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He made a long leap forward, bringing the gun-butt down 
DIRECTLY ON THE HEAD OF THE GERMAN. — Page 98. 


Dave iporter Series 

DAVE POETER’S WAR 
HONORS 

OR 

AT THE FRONT WITH THE FIGHTING 
ENGINEERS 

BY 

EDWARD ^pRATEMEYER 

Author of “Dave Porter at Oak HaU,” “Old Glory Series,” 
“Colonial Series,” “Lakeport Series,” etc. 

ILLUSTRATED BY R. EMMETT OWEN 



BOSTON 

LOTHROP, LEE & SHEPARD CO. 


Published, April, 1919 



I 

~~T\ 



Copyright, 1919, 

By Lothrop, Lee & Shepard Co. i 


All rights reserved 


DAVE PORTER’S WAR HONORS 


APR 24 !9i9 


IRorwooD press 

BERWICK & SMITH CO'. 

NORWOOD, MASS. 

U. S. A. 


©ciAsasasa 



a-v c v 


PREFACE 


“ Dave Porter’s War Honors ” is a com- 
plete story in itself, but forms the fifteenth volume 
in a line issued under the general title, “ Dave 
Porter Series.” 

As my old readers know, this line was begun 
years ago by the publication of “ Dave Porter at 
Oak Hall,” in which I introduced a wide-awake 
American boy at a typical American boarding- 
school. This was followed by “ Dave Porter in 
the South Seas,” and then by “ Dave Porter’s Re- 
turn to School.” After that we had “ Dave Por- 
ter in the Far North,” where the lad went on a 
long journey looking for his father; “ Dave Por- 
ter and His Classmates,” in which the hero was 
put to a most severe test; and then by “ Dave Por- 
ter at Star Ranch,” where a number of strenuous 
adventures befell him. 

Leaving the West, Dave returned again to 
school, as related in “ Dave Porter and His Ri- 
vals.” Then came a remarkable voyage, as nar- 
rated in “ Dave Porter on Cave Island ”; follow- 
ing which he taught some of his school friends a 
much-needed lesson, the particulars of which were 
set forth in “ Dave Porter and the Runaways.” 


vi 


PREFACE 


It was not long after this that we again found 
our hero in the West, as related in “ Dave Porter 
in the Gold Fields,” where he helped to relocate 
a lost mine. Coming back, he put in a grand 
vacation in the Adirondack Mountains, many of 
the particulars of which are told in “ Dave Porter 
at Bear Camp.” 

Graduating from school, our hero took up the 
study of civil engineering. This at first took 
him to the Mexican Border, as related in “ Dave 
Porter and His Double,” and then out to Mon- 
tana, as we learn in “ Dave Porter’s Great 
Search.” 

The great war in Europe was now on, and the 
entrance of our country into the contest caused 
Dave to become an army engineer. He went to 
France and there had some decidedly strenuous 
adventures, as told in “ Dave Porter Under Fire.” 

In the present volume Dave is still with the 
“ fighting engineers ” on the war-scarred battle- 
fields of France. His adventures are thrilling in 
the extreme, but no more so than have fallen to 
the lot of many a young American in this epoch- 
making conflict. 

Again I thank my many readers for the interest 
they have shown in my books ; and I trust that the 
reading of the present volume will inspire all with 
an added love for our country. 

Edward Stratemeyer. 


CONTENTS 


CHAPTER 

I 

Near the Fighting Front 

, , 

PAGE 

I 

II 

The Gas Attack . 


. 12 

III 

The Finding of Roger . 


. 21 

IV 

Letters 


. 30 

V 

News from Home 


. 41 

VI 

A Battle in the Air . 


. 52 

VII 

The German Aviator . 


. 62 

VIII 

The Perils of Road Building . 

. 73 

IX 

In the Thick of the Fight 


. 83 

X 

Dave Shows His Bravery . 


• 94 

XI 

In the Hospital . 



XII 

What Nat Poole Said . 


. 115 

XIII 

The Distinguished Service Medai 

« . 125 

XIV 

The Machine-Gun Nests 


. 136 

XV 

Lieutenant Porter 


. 146 

XVI 

A Personal Affair . 


. 156 

XVII 

At the Trenches . 


. 166 

XVIII 

The German Prisoner . . 


. 175 

XIX 

At the Brook .... 


. 186 


vii 


CONTENTS 


viii 

CHAPTER PAGE 

XX Attacked in the Dark . . . .196 

XXI In the Abandoned Mines .... 205 
XXII Looking for Dave 215 

XXIII A Prisoner of the Enemy . . . . 227 

XXIV Trying to Escape ...... 238 

XXV The Encounter ON THE River . . 249 

XXVI Deep in the Woods 259 

XXVII What Dave’s Chums Did .... 269 
XXVIII The German Headquarters . . . 280 

XXIX The Last Fight 289 

XXX Captain David Porter — Conclusion 298 


ILLUSTRATIONS 


He made a long leap forward, bringing the 


gun-butt down directly on the head of the 

German (page 98) Frontispiece 

FACING 

PAGE 

Immediately afterward came a tremendous explosion . . 28 


As well as he was able, he put out his uninjured arm and 
Dave grasped it ... 66 

Upon the breast of the young sergeant was pinned a 
Distinguished Service Medal 132 


There came down on their heads a perfect shower of dirt 162 


One of them held him at the point of a bayonet . . . 228 
Dave took a long breath and then made the leap . . . 252 


With a quick move he gathered in the maps and docu- 
ments 288 



DAVE PORTER’S WAR HONORS 


CHAPTER I 

NEAR THE FIGHTING FRONT 

“ Phil, where is Roger? ’’ 

“ I don’t know, Dave. I haven’t seen him for 
the last quarter of an hour.” 

“ You don’t suppose he got lost somewhere in 
that gully we crossed?” continued Dave Porter, 
with an anxious look on his bronzed face. 

“ It wouldn’t be surprising, Dave,” answered 
Phil Lawrence. “ I almost got lost myself, the 
tangle of underbrush was so thick.” 

“ Yes, and don’t forget that we had to hide once 
or twice when the Boches sent over those big 
shells,” broke in another member of the en^neer- 
ing party, that was working its way through some 
scrub timber not a great distance back of the 
American fighting front in France. 

“ I’m not forgetting that,” answered Dave 
grimly. 

He well remembered how he had heard the 
whining of a shell, had dropped down into a shell 


2 


DAVE PORTER’S WAR HONORS 


crater, and then heard the missile explode some 
distance away. His left shin had been barked, 
and likewise his shoulder, but to these small hurts 
he was just then paying no attention. 

“ We might set up a call for him,” said another 
of the army engineers, a rather stout individual. 

“ No, don’t do that, Buster! ” cried Dave hast- 
ily. “ Some of those Boches may be closer than 
we imagine. I heard a report from somebody 
yesterday that they thought the Germans had some 
machine-gun nests in the upper end of this wood.” 

“ Say, talking about machine-guns puts me in 
mind of a story I heard last night,” broke in a 
tall, lanky-appearing engineer. “ Two men of a 
gun company had a — ” 

“ For the love of beans. Shadow 1 don’t start to 
tell a story now,” broke in Phil Lawrence. 
“ Keep those for to-night, when we get back to 
our shelter.” 

“ It wasn’t a very long story,” grumbled the 
would-be story teller. “ However, it will keep,” 
he added resignedly. “ But say! it sure is funny 
about Roger. The last I saw of him he was 
crossing that gully about a hundred feet away 
from where I was.” 

“ You saw him go down, I suppose. Shadow,” 
remarked Dave. “ But did you see him come 
up? ” 

“ I did not. I was busy looking out for my- 


NEAR THE FIGHTING FRONT 5 

self. I was afraid the minute I showed myself 
some sharpshooter or machine-gun crowd would 
fire on me.” 

“ It’s too bad we couldn’t go forward and fin- 
ish that road we started,” said another of the 
young engineers, Ben Basswood. “ I don’t un- 
derstand it at all.” 

“ Well, orders are orders, Ben; and they must 
be obeyed,” answered Dave, with a smile. He 
was now a sergeant and in command of the detail 
which was making its way through that section of 
the wood on the American front. 

“ Oh, I know that ! ” responded Dave’s former 
school chum quickly. “ I suppose there must be 
a good reason for stopping the work. By the 
way, it looks to me as if a storm was coming up.” 

“ Gee ! we’ve had nothing but storms lately,” 
grumbled Phil Lawrence. “ At least five in the 
last two weeks! You’d think there wouldn’t be 
any more water left in the sky.” 

Over to the eastward a heavy mass of clouds 
had appeared. There had been but little wind, 
but now the leaves began to stir, and then a breeze 
sprang up, while the heavens began to grow dark 
rapidly. Far off to the north there had been a 
constant booming of heavy artillery, punctuated 
occasionally by the rattle of smaller firearms. 
Now the booming of the cannon on the German 
front commenced to extend southward. 


4 


DAVE PORTER’S WAR HONORS 


“ Say, that sounds as if we might get in the 
direct line of fire before long! ” cried Phil. 

“ Perhaps that’s the reason we were ordered to 
go back,” answered Dave. “ Come, boys, we’ll 
have to hurry a bit. Hike up.” 

The young civil engineers were well loaded 
down, not only with full soldier kits, including 
guns, but also wdth various tools, including picks, 
shovels and axes. Consequently, to “ hike up ” 
over the uneven ground and through the scrub 
timber and rank undergrowth was by no means 
easy. 

“ This traveling sure does get a fellow’s wind,” 
grumbled Buster, as he stopped for a moment to 
catch his breath and run the perspiration from his 
forehead with the side of his finger. “ Talk 
about exercise — this beats anything I ever did 
in the Oak Hall gym.” 

“ Wow ! wouldn’t old Oak Hall look good to us 
now?” cried Shadow, his eyes shining. “Think 
of that comfortable mess-hall, with those beautiful 
tables all set with clean linen and chinaware, and 
the smoking hot meat, not to say anything about 
the mashed potatoes, green corn, lima beans, and 
that beautiful pie, and — ” 

“Say! if you keep on talking that way, Pll 
drown you in the first shell-hole full of water we 
come to! ” burst out Phil. “ Pm hungry enough 
now without your making me worse,” 


NEAR THE FIGHTING FRONT 


5 


“ Never mind, boys, I guess there will be a good 
hot mulligan waiting for us when we get to camp,” 
said Dave, with a grin. 

The detail of which Dave Porter was in com- 
mand consisted of twelve army engineers. The 
majority of them were young men, four of whom 
were Dave’s personal friends and old school 
chums. All had been tramping through the wood 
for the best part of an hour, trying to reach their 
headquarters, located among some hills farther to 
the southward. 

“ Say, Dave, did Roger tell you anything about 
his gas mask?” questioned Phil, while the two 
were walking side by side, with the others behind. 

“ He told me yesterday that he didn’t think it 
was in very good working order,” was the reply. 
“ He said he wanted to have it fixed when he got 
back to camp.” 

“ Well, he tried to fix it himself this morning, 
and in doing it broke the mouthpiece.” 

“ Didn’t he get it fixed at all? ” questioned the 
young sergeant of the engineer quickly. 

“ I don’t think he did. He didn’t have time.” 

“That’s too bad! He ought to have taken 
time. It’s dangerous to be out in this neighbor- 
hood without a mask that is in good working 
order.” 

“ That’s what I told him. But he said he 
guessed it would be all right.” 


6 


DAVE PORTER’S WAR HONORS 


The young civil engineers now reached a por- 
tion of the wood where the ground was very un- 
even and interspersed with many jagged rocks. 
Here, in some places, the shell fire of a former 
battle had thrown up the ground and the growth 
in violent fashion, so that they were often at a 
loss how to progress. Once Dave stepped into 
some undergrowth and went down into a hole up 
to his knees, and a moment later came a stifled 
cry from Buster Beggs. 

“ Hello ! there goes Buster ! ” cried Shadow. 

“Where did he go?” questioned Dave, turn- 
ing around. 

“ Slid off through those bushes on the left.” 

“ Help me ! Somebody pull me out, or I’ll 
drown! ” called the hapless engineer. 

Working their way through the bushes, the oth- 
ers saw Buster floundering around in a shell crater 
which was about ten feet in diameter and of un- 
known depth. It was almost filled with dirty 
water, and in this the young engineer was strug- 
gling, the load on his back dragging him down- 
ward. 

Standing on the edge of the shell-hole, Dave 
extended the stock of his gun, and Phil did like- 
wise, and, grasping both of these, Buster was 
dragged to the edge of the hole, and then willing 
hands assisted him once more to his feet. 


NEAR THE FIGHTING FRONT 7 

“What’s the matter, Buster? Didn’t you see 
the hole? ” questioned Dave. 

“ I did, when it was too late,” was the answer. 
“ The ground on that side is all wet and slippery, 
and I went down on it like on a toboggan-slide. 
Say! I’m some wet and muddy, eh?” and he 
looked at himself dolefully. 

“ Never mind. You’ll not mind the storm 
that is coming up,” remarked Dave. “ Unless I 
miss my guess, we’ll all be soaked to the skin in a 
few minutes.” 

To the rumble of the distant guns was now 
added the rumble of thunder. Then came several 
sharp flashes of lightning, and the wind came rush- 
ing through the wood. 

“ It’s coming, all right enough 1 ” cried Phil. 

“ Come 1 Hike up and follow me 1 ” cried 
Dave. “ I think I know where we can get a lit- 
tle shelter if it becomes too bad.” 

Carrying their heavy packs and engineering im- 
plements as best they could, the engineers hurried 
along through the wood at Dave’s heels. The 
young sergeant was headed for a small hill, to one 
side of which was something of a cliff that he 
thought might offer at least slight protection from 
the on-coming storm. He had visited the cliff 
some days before, and had noticed that there was 
more or less of a hollow beneath it, a hollow 


8 


DAVE PORTER’S WAR HONORS 


screened by a number of trees and some dense 
underbrush. 

As they advanced, Dave could not but think of 
his chum, Roger Morr. 

“ He should have kept close to us,’’ said Dave 
to Ben. “ There is no use in taking chances by 
straying away in such a dangerous locality as 
this.” 

“ Maybe Roger was hit by a stray bullet and 
we never knew it,” was the reply. “ You know 
every once in a while some poor fellow is knocked 
out that way.” 

“Oh, don’t say that, Ben!” answered Dave, 
and then he became exceedingly thoughtful. 
Roger was engaged to Dave’s sister, and what 
would Laura say if the young civil engineer 
should be thus laid low? 

The engineers came in sight of the cliff just as 
the first big drops of the on-coming storm came 
beating down on the leaves. Without hesitation, 
Dave led the way through some heavy underbrush 
until the foot of the cliff was gained. 

“ Well, this is some shelter, but not a great 
deal,” remarked Shadow. 

“ Better than being out there in the open,” 
returned Buster. 

He had scarcely spoken when there came a 
vivid flash of lightning, followed by a deafening 


NEAR THE FIGHTING FRONT 


9 

crash of thunder. Then came another crash not 
a great distance away. 

“ Gee ! that lightning struck a tree pretty close 
to us ! ” gasped one of the engineers. 

“ There it is — right up on the top of the cliff ! ” 
exclaimed Phil. 

“ Look out ! It’s coming down ! ” announced 
Dave. “ Come in close to the rocks, all of you ! ” 

The engineers did as directed, and a moment 
later they heard the big tree rolling and crashing 
through the underbrush some distance away. 
Then came another crash of thunder, followed by 
a tremendous downpour of rain. 

Keeping close to the foot of the cliff, Dave and 
the others of his party began to search around 
among the rocks. Presently one of the young fel- 
lows set up a shout. 

“ Here is an opening ! I don’t know how deep 
it is, but it looks to be pretty roomy.” 

Dave carried a pocket flashlight with him, and 
this was turned on to dispel the gloom, for the 
sky was now completely overcast, and under the 
cliff it was quite dark. 

“ It’s a regular cave,” announced the young 
sergeant, after a hasty examination. “ Here, 
Phil, give me your hand and I will let myself 
down and look around.” 

The opening under the cliff proved to be amply 


lo DAVE PORTER’S WAR HONORS 


large to shelter all of them, and the army en- 
gineers were glad enough to get into it and re- 
lieve themselves of their packs. Then they sat 
down to rest and to talk over the situation. 

“ I’d feel a good deal better if Roger were 
with us,” remarked Dave to Phil, as he and his 
old school chum peered forth from the opening 
of the cave-like shelter. 

“You’ve said it, Dave!” was the low reply. 
“ Gee 1 if anything happened to Roger — ” Phil 
did not finish, but shook his head gravely. 

“ I’m going out to look for him just as soon as 
the storm lets up.” 

“You’ll let me go along, won’t you, Dave?” 
questioned the other quickly. Phil himself was 
only a corporal, so he must obey any order from 
a superior. 

“ Of course,” was the ready response. 

The engineers had emergency rations with 
them, and they lost no time in satisfying their 
hunger as best they could, building a small fire 
for the purpose of making some hot chocolate 
and drying out Buster’s water-soaked garments. 

The rather scanty meal finished, Dave, fol- 
lowed by Phil, crawled out of the shelter and 
walked forward to where the base of the cliff 
came to an end. Here they could still hear the 
booming of the distant artillery. 

“ Looks to me as if the storm was letting up,” 


NEAR THE FIGHTING FRONT ii 

remarked Phil. “ And the wind is dying down, 
too.” 

To this remark Dave made no answer. He 
was listening intently, and now to hear better he 
placed his hand to his ear. 

“What do you hear?” questioned Phil, after 
a moment of silence. 

“ Listen for yourself, Phil.” 

The other young engineer did so, and then a 
look of alarm came into his face. 

“ Is that a gas attack warning, Dave? ” 

“ That’s just what it is, Phil ! The Germans 
must be launching such an attack I ” 

“That’s bad!” 

“ Notify the others at once, Phil. Tell the 
men I want them to take no chances, but get their 
masks on and keep them on until they are dead 
sure it is perfectly safe to take them off.” 

“ But what are you going to do? ” 

“ I’m going out to look for Roger. If he’s 
lost in the woods, or if he’s been wounded and is 
without a mask that will work, he’s in danger of 
his life.” 

“ But you said I could go along! ” 

“ All right, then, follow me. But warn all 
the others first,” answered Dave; and then hur- 
ried off through the rain-soaked wood on the 
hunt for his missing chum. 


CHAPTER II 


THE (GAS ATTACK 

“ PvE got to find Roger — I’ve got to do it I ” 

Such were the words that Dave murmured to 
himself as he dashed away from Phil’s side, mak- 
ing off in the direction where he had last seen 
Roger Morr. As he advanced he adjusted his 
gas mask, knowing that it would be foolhardy to 
move along without it, even though it somewhat 
impeded his breathing. 

Dave was filled with a great fear for the wel- 
fare of the lad who had been his chum for so 
many years and who just before leaving home 
had become engaged to his sister. 

“ If he’s all right, he’ll know how to make use 
of his gas mask, even if the mouthpiece is broken,” 
he reasoned to himself. “ But if he’s badly 
wounded, or is unconscious, he won’t be able to 
save himself when the gas reaches him. Oh, I’ve 
got to find him — I’ve just got to ! ” 

To those of my readers who have perused one 
or more of the former volumes in this series, Dave 
Porter will need no introduction. For the bene- 
fit, however, of those who are now meeting Dave 
12 


THE GAS ATTACK 


13 


for the first time, let me state a few facts concern- 
ing his boyhood and the years immediately follow- 
ing. 

When a very small lad Dave had been found 
wandering alongside the railroad tracks in Crum- 
ville in one of our eastern States. No one came 
forward to claim him, and he was put in the local 
poorhouse and later on bound out to a one-time 
college professor, Caspar Potts, who was then 
farming for his health. 

In a fine mansion on the outskirts of Crumville 
dwelt Mr. Oliver Wadsworth, a wealthy jewelry 
manufacturer, with his wife and his daughter 
Jessie. One day the gasoline tank of an auto- 
mobile took fire, and little Jessie was in danger of 
being burned to death when Dave, who chanced 
to be near, rushed to her rescue. Because of this 
brave act, the rich jewelry manufacturer became 
interested in the boy and decided that he should 
be given the benefit of a good education. 

The lad was sent to a first-class boarding-school, 
as related in the first volume of this series, entitled, 
“ Dave Porter at Oak Hall.” With Dave went 
Ben Basswood, his one friend in the town. 

At Oak Hall, Dave made a host of friends, in- 
cluding Roger Morr, the son of a well-known 
United States senator ; Phil Lawrence, whose 
father was a rich shipowner; Maurice Hamilton, 
who loved to tell stories and who was generally 


14 DAVE PORTER’S WAR HONORS 

known as “ Shadow ” because of his thinness: and 
Buster Beggs, who was as stout as he was good- 
natured. 

It can be easily understood that in those days 
the principal thing that troubled Dave was the 
question of his parentage. Some mean school- 
boys called him a “ poorhouse nobody”; and to 
solve the mystery of his identity he took a long 
voyage, as related in “ Dave Porter in the South 
Seas.” He met his uncle, Dunston Porter, and 
learned much concerning his father, David Bres- 
low Porter, and also his sister Laura, who were at 
that time traveling in Europe. 

After his trip to the South Seas, Dave returned 
for a while to school, but then went to the Far 
North and succeeded in locating his father. 

In the meantime, Dave’s sister had gone to the 
West, to visit her intimate friend. Belle Endicott, 
who lived on Star Ranch in Montana. Later 
still, Laura, Dave and some of his chums visited 
the ranch and there had “ the time of their lives,” 
as they afterward declared. 

Coming back from the West, Dave supposed 
that matters would flow along smoothly, but such 
was not the case. At Christmas time came a 
startling robbery of the Wadsworth jewelry 
works, and Dave and his chums discovered that 
the crime had been committed by two of the 
former bullies of Oak Hall, After a voyage to 


THE GAS ATTACK 


15 

Cave Island one of the rascals was captured and 
the stolen goods recovered. 

The trip to Cave Island was later on followed 
by another to the great West, where Dave aided 
Roger Morr in relocating a gold mine which had 
been inherited by Mrs. Morr and lost through a 
landslide. 

After this our hero went to Bear Camp in the 
Adirondack Mountains. There he had a most 
unusual experience, falling in with a young man 
who was almost his double in appearance. 

Dave had now graduated from Oak Hall, and 
he and Roger Morr had taken up the profession 
of civil engineering. This work at first took them 
to Texas, and then to the wilds of Montana. 
They had positions with the Mentor Construction 
Company, and their camp was under the general 
management of Mr. Ralph Obray, assisted by a 
number of others, including a middle-aged engi- 
neer, Frank Andrews, who speedily became a 
warm friend of the youths. 

It was a great day for the young civil engineers 
when they set sail for Central America to assist in 
the work of building a railroad in Costa Rica. 
This was at the time when the World War was in 
progress in Europe, but before the United States 
had entered the conflict. They were in the midst 
of some exciting happenings in the Central Amer- 
ican republic when word came that the United 


1 6 DAVE PORTER’S WAR HONORS 

States had joined with the Allies “ to make the 
world safe for democracy.” 

“ Roger, how would you like to become an army 
engineer?” Dave had asked of his chum. And 
then he had spoken of how the United States 
Government would probably need hundreds of 
army engineers to assist the soldiers in their bat- 
tles with the Central Powers. 

Mr. Ralph Obray had once been a major in the 
State militia, and on returning to the United States 
he became a captain of a unit of the engineers 
raised by the Engineering Society. He was very 
anxious to have Dave and Roger join this unit, 
and after consulting with their folks, the two 
young civil engineers were sworn into the service. 
With them went Ben Basswood, and also Phil 
Lawrence, Shadow Hamilton, and Buster Beggs. 

Before the boys left home to go to Camp 
Hickory, as the cantonment was called, several 
interesting events took place. As my old readers 
know, to Dave there was no girl in the world quite 
so nice as Jessie Wadsworth, and the pair had a 
very definite understanding regarding what they 
intended to do when Dave returned from the war. 

Roger had always been very attentive to Laura 
Porter, and just before leaving for camp their 
engagement was announced. 

On his first trip to Star Ranch, Phil Lawrence 
had become enamored of Belle Endicott, and the 


THE GAS ATTACK 


17 

happiness of his chums made him exceedingly 
anxious regarding his own future. He sent an 
earnest telegram to Belle; and a little later met 
that young lady in New York City and there got 
her to promise something which was in every de- 
gree highly satisfactory to the shipowner’s son. 

From Camp Hickory the young civil engineers 
entrained for an American port, and there went 
aboard one of the big army transports, as related 
in the last volume of this series, entitled, “ Dave 
Porter Under Fire.” 

This transport was attacked by two submarines, 
but escaped injury, and a little later the young 
soldiers found themselves on French soil. Here 
they went into intensive training for a number of 
weeks and were then sent to the front. 

While in the training camp at home Dave and 
the others had made the acquaintance of a French 
widow, who had suffered much because of the war 
and because of the doings of a German spy, named 
Rudolph Holtzmann. The poor widow’s two 
children had been lost during the first upheaval of 
war in Alsace-Lorraine, and to add to her misery 
she was later on robbed by the spy, who had been 
boarding with her. 

All the “ fighting engineers,” as they were af- 
fectionately termed, had had some strenuous ad- 
ventures during those first few weeks on the firing 
line. They had been set to building roadways 


1 8 DAVE PORTER’S WAR HONORS 

and bridges, and had been under fire on more than 
one occasion. Then, during a brief respite in 
their work, Dave had gotten word concerning 
Rudolph Holtzmann, and, with the aid of the 
French authorities, had succeeded in cornering 
this rascal and had discovered the whereabouts of 
the Widow Carot’s missing children. 

Dave, Roger, and Phil had been cited in the or- 
ders of the day for bravery, and a little later Dave 
had been made a sergeant of the engineers, while 
Roger and Phil became corporals. 

“ You’re getting up in the world, Dave,” had 
been Roger’s comment. “ First thing you know, 
you’ll be a lieutenant or a captain.” 

“ Time enough for that, Roger,” Dave an- 
swered. “ I think you’ve got just as good a 
chance as I have. In fact, I can’t understand 
why they didn’t make you and Phil sergeants as 
well as myself.” 

“ Oh, we didn’t do as much as you did,” the 
senator’s son had answered. “ You always were 
a natural-born leader.” 

“ Oh, cut it, Roger ! ” Dave had cried. Never- 
theless, he knew that his chum was sincere in what 
he said, and he was correspondingly pleased. At 
heart Roger was one of the best fellows in the 
world, and it was with intense satisfaction that 
Dave had learned the young man was one day to 
become his only sister’s husband. 


THE GAS ATTACK 


19 


And that was the reason why, as he dashed 
through the rain-soaked wood, Dave told himself 
that he must find Roger, no matter at what cost. 
He felt that if he failed in this his sister would 
never forgive him, and, for the matter of that, he 
would never forgive himself. 

He ploughed forward through the soaked un- 
derbrush and scrambled over the rough rocks as 
best he could. Then, as looking through the 
mask was difficult, he took a deep breath, and, 
holding it, took the mask off for a moment to 
gaze around him anxiously. But no human being 
was in sight, and, readjusting his mask, he went 
forward once again. Glancing backward, he saw 
that Phil was swiftly following him. 

Off to the north of where he had been walking 
there had been at one time something of a woods’ 
trail, used probably by the farmers of that vicin- 
ity. This was much torn up, with shell craters 
dotting it at short distances. As Dave came 
closer to this abandoned trail he caught sight of 
something which caused him to stop in wonder. 
There, sheltered by some rocks and a mass of 
brushwood, were a heap of unused shells, evi- 
dently for three-inch guns. 

“ How in the world did those shells get here? ” 
he asked himself. “ They certainly don’t belong 
to our artillery.” 

A brief examination revealed to the young en- 


20 DAVE PORTER’S WAR HONORS 

gineer that they were German shells. They had 
probably been left there by the Huns at the time 
they had tried to take the wood several weeks 
before. A slight advance had been made by one 
or two German regiments, but this had been re- 
pulsed by the American artillery. 

“ I’ll have to report this to headquarters as soon 
as I get back,” he told himself. 

He was just turning away from the pile of 
shells when Phil came up. He pointed the pile 
out to his chum, and the young corporal was much 
surprised. He motioned to the shells and then 
toward the American line, but Dave shook his 
head and pointed toward the German line, to indi- 
cate that they must be shells left there by the 
enemy. 

So far there was but a slight trace of gas 
throughout the wood, but as the two young civil 
engineers advanced they met a cloud of the poison- 
ous vapor rolling toward them in a yellowish haze. 
Dave felt of his mask to make sure that it was 
properly adjusted and pointed to Phil’s, who nod- 
ded to show that he also was on his guard. 

Presently the pair reached the spot where Roger 
had last been seen by them. They looked around 
in every direction, but without avail. Then Dave 
looked at his chum, but Phil merely shrugged his 
shoulders to show that he did not know what to 
make of the situation or what to do next. 


CHAPTER III 


THE FINDING OF ROGER 

As THE two young army engineers turned away 
from where they were standing to look up and 
down the gully which had been crossed at the time 
they had seen the last of their chum, they noticed 
that the cloud of poisonous gas was growing more 
dense. On every side the water-laden wood 
showed a thick and sickly yellow haze, the very 
appearance of which was enough to make one 
shudder. 

For the time being the rain had let up. Over- 
head the heavy clouds were passing swiftly to the 
southward, but the wind seemed to be too high 
up to drive the poisonous gas away. 

Dave and his chum traveled all of a quarter of 
a mile down the gully without getting any trace 
of Roger. Then they came back on the far side 
of the gully and progressed in the opposite direc- 
tion. 

This upper section of the wood had been under 
fire several times during the war, and was conse- 
quently much torn up. Shell-holes were to be met 
at every little distance, and here and there the 
dying trees lay across the underbrush. 

21 


22 


DAVE PORTER’S WAR HONORS 


Presently Dave clutched his chum by the arm 
and pointed to an opening leading down into the 
gully at a point which so far had not been ex- 
plored. There on the ground lay a newspaper — 
a copy of the Stars and Stripes, the official sheet 
of the American Expeditionary Force in France. 
Both of the young civil engineers were much in- 
terested in the discovery of this newspaper, for 
they remembered that Roger had had a copy of 
the publication with him on their last trip forward. 
In fact, the senator’s son had read some articles 
aloud for the benefit of his friends. 

“ If this is the newspaper he was carrying, he 
must have come this way,” was Dave’s reasoning, 
and Phil was of a similar mind. 

With caution, for the going was treacherous, 
the two young engineers made their way down the 
rocks and over the muddy places and through the 
rain-soaked underbrush toward the bottom of the 
gully, which, at this point, was thirty or forty feet 
in depth and probably twice that in width at the 
top. At the bottom was a tiny watercourse, gur- 
gling over and around the jagged rocks. 

Reaching the watercourse, Dave and Phil 
looked up and down for some trace of their miss- 
ing chum. But on account of the poisonous haze, 
which filled the gully, it was difficult to see any 
considerable distance. 

Dave motioned to his chum that he was going 


THE FINDING OF ROGER 


23 


farther up the gully, and Phil nodded to show that 
he was willing to continue the search, even though 
the poisonous gas in that hollow might be highly 
dangerous for both of them. 

They had progressed less than a hundred feet 
when, on coming to a momentary halt, they sud- 
denly found several small stones rolling toward 
them from one side of the gully. Looking up in 
that direction, they discovered Roger seated on a 
rock and motioning to them. 

The lost young engineer had his gas mask ad- 
justed, for which both Dave and Phil were thank- 
ful. But he sat on the rock nursing his left ankle, 
and now they saw that he had removed his shoe 
and had the ankle bound with a bandage. 

By looking up behind Roger it was easy to make 
out what had happened to him. In trying to make 
his way out of the gully after coming down from 
the other side, he had trusted his weight to some 
bushes near the top. They had given way, and 
he had come down almost to the bottom with a 
rush, falling and rolling over some sharp rocks as 
he did so. Then he showed them how his left 
foot had become caught between two of the rocks, 
and this had twisted his ankle, making it so pain- 
ful that he could not use the foot. 

Dave felt that the first thing for him and Phil 
to do was to get Roger out of the gas-choked 
gully. The young engineers had had not a little 


24 


DAVE PORTER’S WAR HONORS 


experience in carrying wounded men, and now this 
helped them to lift Roger and move him without 
causing the hurt ankle much additional pain. 
They did not attempt to get to the top of the gully 
at that point, but walked along the watercourse 
for several hundred feet, until they reached a 
point where egress from the hollow was compara- 
tively easy. On the upper level all were glad to 
notice that the gas was considerably thinner. 
Here the breeze was beginning to freshen, and 
this was serving to dissipate the noxious chemicals. 
But even though the gas was becoming thinner and 
thinner, the young engineers knew better than to 
remove their masks too quickly. 

Having reached the top of the gully, Dave de- 
cided to set off in the direction of the cliff where 
he had left the others of his detail. In order to 
make certain of the direction he pulled out a 
pocket compass for consultation. Then, more 
out of habit than because he wanted to know the 
time, he looked for his watch. 

The timepiece was gone! It had disappeared 
along with the strap that had held it. 

Dave was startled, and not without good rea- 
son, for the wrist watch was one that had been 
presented to him on leaving for the front and was 
both handsome and valuable. 

Like a flash it suddenly came to the young en- 
gineer where the watch had been dropped. He 


THE FINDING OF ROGER 25 

remembered now that he had looked at it when 
about to turn away from the pile of German shells 
which he had found hidden near the old wood 
trail. After looking at the watch he now remem- 
bered that something had struck his foot, which 
at the time he had thought was a stick or a stone. 
Now he felt sure it must have been the missing 
timepiece. 

It would not be much out of their way to return 
to the vicinity of the cliff by way of the spot where 
the pile of shells had been discovered, and so 
Dave and Phil set off in that direction carrying 
Roger between them. The wind was now coming 
up strongly; and soon they felt it would be safe 
to remove their gas masks, and accordingly did so. 

“ Gosh ! but I’m glad to get this off,” were 
Phil’s first words, after he had cautiously tested 
the air with his nose to discover if he could still 
detect the odor of gas. 

Even though the mouthpiece on his mask had 
been broken, Roger had had little difficulty in using 
the outfit, and had not suffered from the poison- 
ous attack. But his left ankle pained him not a 
little, and when, supported by his chums, he at- 
tempted to stand on his foot he made a decidedly 
wry face. 

“Ouch I” he exclaimed. “Feels worse than 
ten thousand needles jabbing through it.” 

“ Don’t worry,” answered Dave kindly. “ We 


26 DAVE PORTER’S WAR HONORS 


can carry you just as well as not, can’t we, Phil? ” 

“ Of course we can ! ” was the quick reply. “ It 
will take us a little longer to reach the others, but 
what of that? ” 

“ Dave, I hope you get your watch back. I 
know you’d hate to lose it,” said Roger, as the 
others prepared to pick him up once more. 

“ Oh, I’m almost certain I know where I 
dropped it,” was the young sergeant’s reply. 

The booming of the heavy artillery in the dis- 
tance had ceased, but now came another crash off 
to the southward. 

“ That’s thunder ! ” exclaimed Phil. “ Looks 
to me as if that storm might be coming back.” 

“ It certainly did let down while it was at it,” 
remarked Roger. “ I didn’t have to crawl down 
to the brook to soak that bandage for my ankle. 
All I had to do was to draw it over the bushes and 
grass around me and it got soaked in a minute.” 

The veering of the wind once again made the 
atmosphere pure around them, and for this, as they 
drank in the fresh air, they were exceedingly 
thankful. 

“ I’ll tell you one thing — fresh air is like fresh 
water,” remarked Phil. “ You don’t know how 
good both of them are until you can’t get them.” 

“ I can tell you I felt pretty bad down there in 
the gully all alone,” returned Roger. “ Once or 
twice I tried to crawl out, but the pain in that 


THE FINDING OF ROGER 


27 

ankle was so terrific it was too much for me. I 
was afraid that I might faint, and then if my mask 
got loose in any way it would have been all up with 
me.’’ 

As they advanced Dave told of finding the pile 
of three-inch shells hidden in the brushwood. 
Roger was as much interested as Phil had been. 

“ Do you suppose they were put there lately, 
Dave? ” questioned the corporal. 

“ I don’t believe so, Roger. I think they date 
back to some other time — probably some time be- 
fore we were on or near this front. You know 
this part of France had been under fire for many 
months.” 

The sky was growing dark again, and now came 
a flash of lightning at a distance, followed by a 
rumble of thunder. Then came more rain and 
several other lightning flashes, each one a little 
nearer than those before. 

“ We’re in for it, all right enough,” was Phil’s 
comment. “ I wish we were back in the shelter 
of the cliff.” 

“How far is that from here?” questioned 
Roger. 

“ At least a quarter of a mile,” answered Dave. 

With the storm coming on again the wood grew 
rapidly darker, so that it was with difficulty that 
the young engineers picked their way through the 
tangle of brushwood and around the rocks and 


28 


DAVE PORTER’S WAR HONORS 


fallen trees. It was now raining steadily, and 
before long all were wet to the skin. 

“ It’s too bad I took you so far out of the way, 
Phil,” remarked Dave. “ I suppose we might 
have gone on direct to the shelter of the cliff, and 
I could have come back to look for that watch 
some time later.” 

“ Oh, that’s all right, Dave,” was the quick 
reply. “We would have got wet anyhow. I 
want you to get your watch back first of all. It 
won’t do the timepiece any good to be lying out 
there in the wet.” 

The three young engineers were still about a 
hundred yards away from the hidden shells when 
the storm seemed to burst directly over their heads 
with tremendous fury. There was a vivid flash 
of lightning, followed by a loud crack of thunder, 
and then off to their left they heard one of the big 
trees of the forest come down with a crash, car- 
rying some small growth with it. 

“ Wow! that was some crack, believe me! ” ex- 
claimed Phil, after it was over. 

“We can be mighty thankful we weren’t under 
that tree that was struck,” said Roger. 

“ It certainly is a heavy storm,” put in Dave; 
“ and it seems to be growing worse every minute. 
Just look how dark it is becoming.” 

“ I hope it doesn’t get so dark you can’t see to 
find your watch,” said Phil. 



Immediately afterward came a tremendous explosion. — Page 29, 


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THE FINDING OF ROGER 


29 


The lightning and thunder had brought them to 
a temporary halt, but now they started to go for- 
ward again, the flash of lightning having left them 
in a darkness which was almost absolute. 

“ Be careful you don’t go down in some hole, 
Dave,” cried Phil, for the young sergeant was in 
advance, carrying Roger by the knees, while Phil 
in the rear supported their chum under his arms. 

The words had scarcely been spoken when there 
came another jagged flash of lightning from the 
sky almost directly, so it seemed, in front of the 
young engineers. They saw the fork of electricity 
shoot down into the very midst of the spot where 
the German shells lay hidden. The flash of 
lightning was followed by a crack of thunder, and 
then almost immediately afterward came a tre- 
mendous explosion from the pile of shells as a 
number of them seemed to go off simultaneously. 

There was an awful flash of fire, and then Dave 
and the others were hurled backward in a heap 
among the bushes and trees. 


CHAPTER IV 


LETTERS 

For fully a minute after the tremendous explo- 
sion there was silence, broken only by the falling 
rain. Then came two minor explosions, one di- 
rectly after the other. 

The three young engineers had been hurled into 
a thick mass of brushwood, backed up by several 
saplings. The brushwood had fortunately acted 
as a sort of cushion for their bodies, otherwise one 
or more of them must have been seriously injured. 
Even as it was, Dave had the wind taken out of 
him and had his left ear scratched by a branch. 

When our hero managed to scramble to his feet 
following the third explosion, he saw that Phil 
was wedged in between two of the saplings. 
Roger lay face downward, with both hands up to 
protect his head. 

“ How is it, boys, either of you hurt? ” de- 
manded the young sergeant, as soon as he could 
speak. 

“I — I — don’t exactly kn — know,” stam- 
mered Phil slowly. “ Any m — more explosions 
coming? ” he continued apprehensively. 

20 


LETTERS 


31 


‘‘ I’m sure I don’t know.” Dave gazed at 
Roger, who was now turning over and sitting up. 
‘‘ How about you? ” 

“ It didn’t do my hurt ankle much good,” re- 
sponded the senator’s son. “ But I guess we can 
all be thankful we weren’t blown to bits.” 

“ Or struck by the lightning,” added Dave. 
“ And either of those things might have happened 
had we been where I think I dropped the watch.” 

All three had by this time scrambled to their 
feet out of the brushwood, and now they lost no 
time in hurrying from the scene, Roger resting 
an arm over the shoulder of each of his chums 
and hopping along on his good foot. And it was 
well that they did this, for presently came another 
loud explosion, followed by several others. 

‘‘ We got out just in time,” observed Phil, with 
a grave shake of his head. 

“ I don’t understand what made those last shells 
go off,” remarked Dave. “ Certainly that light- 
ning couldn’t have done it.” 

“ Maybe the dumps are connected with some 
mine,” put in Roger quickly. “ I wouldn’t put it 
past the Germans to play some trick like that. 
It’s been done before.” 

He referred to an incident which had come to 
light just about the time the American Expedition- 
ary Force had arrived in that neighborhood. 
Some German shells had been found located in a 


32 


DAVE PORTER’S WAR HONORS 


spot near a roadway. When the newly-arrived 
soldiers had started to pick some of the shells up 
they had disturbed some wires connected with a 
mine and there had been a loud explosion in the 
roadway. Fortunately, at that time no artillery 
or motor lorries were passing that particular spot, 
so that comparatively small damage had been 
done. 

“ Maybe the mine was located on that old wood 
trail we saw,” said Phil. “ They might have fig- 
ured out that the Americans would use that trail 
in coming this way.” 

“ I guess it’s good-bye to that watch,” remarked 
Dave. “ If it was anywhere near the ammunition 
dump those explosions must have smashed it com- 
pletely.” 

“ Oh, I don’t know about that,” answered Phil. 
“ It may have fallen down in some hole or be- 
tween some rocks and been well protected. Just 
the same, I don’t think I would go near the place 
yet. There may be more explosions to come.” 

“ I don’t intend to go near it,” answered Dave. 
“ We’ll get back to the cliff and see what the other 
fellows are doing. If they are still there, these 
explosions will make them wonder what is hap- 
pening.” 

But even though he spoke thus lightly, the 
young sergeant felt the loss of the fine wrist-watch 
keenly. As said before, it had been a present 


LETTERS 


33 

from the folks at home, and was quite valuable. 

“ I should have been more careful about it,” he 
told himself rather bitterly. “ I certainly was 
careless.” 

The lightning and thunder now seemed to shift 
to the westward, but the rain continued to come 
down almost as heavily as before. Roger hopped 
along for quite a distance, but then intimated that 
he would have to rest. 

“ We’ll carry you as we did before, Roger,” 
said Dave. “ It isn’t very far to the cliff from 
here.” 

“ I don’t see why I had to have such rotten 
luck trying to cross the gully,” remarked the in- 
jured one dolefully. “ I suppose this will send 
me to the hospital for a few days at least, and I 
don’t want to go. I want to be in the thick of 
what is doing.” 

“ I think we’ll all have to rest up a bit, Roger, 
if this storm keeps on,” announced Dave. “ The 
fact is, I don’t think the plans for the next advance 
are quite worked out yet,” he continued. 

Presently the three came in sight of the cliff, 
and a few minutes later were down in the hollow 
where Dave and Phil had left the others. A 
shout went up from Ben and Shadow at their ap- 
pearance. 

“Hello! so you found him, did you?” cried 
Shadow. “ That’s fine I ” 


34 DAVE PORTER’S WAR HONORS 

“ What’s the matter with your foot, Roger? ” 
demanded Ben. 

“ Oh, I twisted my ankle a bit between the 
rocks.” 

“ Say, there have been some fearful explosions 
following some flashes of lightning,” said one of 
the other engineers. “ Do you know anything 
about them? ” 

“ We know all about them,” answered Dave. 
“ We were close to them — in fact, too close for 
comfort.” And in a few brief words those who 
had come in told of what had occurred since Dave 
and Phil had gone on the search for their missing 
comrade. 

“Lost your watch, eh, Dave?” said Ben. 
“That’s too bad! But maybe you’ll be able to 
find it after this storm clears away and when you 
are sure there won’t be any more explosions at 
that dump.” 

All those left in the shelter of the cliff had 
donned their gas masks when told to do so by Phil. 
But Buster’s mask had not worked very well, and 
now the stout lad lay on a pile of brushwood 
looking anything but well. 

“ I guess I swallowed some of the gas, all right 
enough,” he said in a somewhat choked voice, 
while his eyes ran with tears. “ You see, I 
couldn’t breathe very well, and so I tried to fix it. 
But I guess I made it worse.” 


LETTERS 


35 

“ If you got it, Buster, I guess the best thing 
we can do is to get you to the hospital as soon as 
possible,” said Dave quickly. And then he de- 
tailed Ben and Shadow for that work. 

In a quarter of an hour the heavy rain ceased, 
and the entire party set off for camp through a 
misty drizzle, which was anything but cheering. 
Those who had taken charge of Buster set off in 
advance, supporting the heavy young engineer be- 
tween them. They were followed by the others, 
all taking turns in carrying Roger. 

“ I don’t think that ankle is sprained so very 
badly after all,” announced the senator’s son. 
“ And I am not going to the hospital unless I have 
to. I can bathe it and wrap it up in liniment, and 
maybe it will be all right in the morning.” 

“ And if it isn’t, Roger, I’ll see to it that you 
get a day’s rest,” answered Dave. 

On arriving at the engineers’ camp, Dave made 
his report. Buster’s condition was immediately 
investigated, and then an ambulance was called, 
into which he was placed and carried to the near- 
est emergency hospital. 

“ The poor fellow may be worse off than we 
imagine,” said Captain Obray to Dave. “ You 
remember the fate of poor Williamson? ” 

Indeed I do,” answered our hero. William- 
son was a somewhat elderly engineer, hailing from 
the South. Only a few weeks before he had gone 


36 DAVE PORTER’S WAR HONORS 

to the front without his gas mask. As soon as 
a gas attack came, Williamson had fled to the rear, 
hoping to escape the deadly fumes. For several 
days he had acted as if nothing had harmed him. 
But then he had suddenly been taken with cramps 
and a feeling of sickness all over, and he was now 
in the hospital hovering between life and death. 

Once back in camp, Roger lost no time in at- 
tending to his injured ankle, being assisted in this 
by Ben and Shadow. In the meantime Dave had 
to attend to his duties as a sergeant, while Phil 
went over to perform his own duties as a corporal, 
and also those which had been assigned to the 
senator’s son. 

For three days it rained almost constantly — 
so much so that it was next to impossible for the 
engineers to do any of the work which had been 
assigned to them. A large part of that territory 
in France was rather low, and the rain caused 
many pools and some lakes to form. One of the 
main roadways was about a foot under water, and 
many of the lorry drivers asked jokingly how soon 
they were going to run boats in that vicinity. It 
was almost impossible to move anything, and one 
battery which attempted to shift its position got 
completely stuck in the mud and had to be left 
there until the storm let up. 

In those days the young engineers had one place 
to visit which gave them a great deal of comfort 


LETTERS 


37 


This was a large Y. M. C. A. hut, which had been 
established in that vicinity only a short while 
before. Here the boys often gathered in their 
off time, to write letters, play games, or listen to 
the music of a small but sweet-toned phonograph 
which had been set up. Those who cared to do 
so could smoke, and also obtain chocolate and 
other sweets, and likewise something hot to drink. 

“ It’s a mighty fine idea,” was Dave’s comment 
one evening, after he had spent two hours at the 
hut, writing some letters and listening to some 
familiar songs reproduced on the phonograph. 

“ Right you are ! And the Y. M. C. A. people 
and those who are supporting the movement de- 
serve a great deal of credit for what they have 
done,” replied Phil. 

“ I understand the Knights of Columbus are 
going to put up a hut some miles farther down the 
line,” put in another of the engineers. 

“ Yes. And the Salvation Army are doing 
something of the same thing,” came from still an- 
other. “ A fellow was telling me the other day 
that they were dealing out hot pies and doughnuts 
right close to the firing-line. Some work for the 
lassies, eh? ” and he smiled broadly. 

During those days Roger’s ankle grew better 
rapidly. He still limped a little when he walked, 
but he could get around, and declared that in a 
few days more he would be as well as ever. Con- 


38 DAVE PORTER’S WAR HONORS 

cerning Buster, however, the report was not so 
encouraging. Evidently he had got more of a 
dose of the poisonous gas than he had thought, 
and he was suffering considerably. 

“ It ought to be a lesson to all of us to be very 
careful to keep our masks in perfect order,’’ said 
Dave. 

“ It’s a lesson to me, all right enough,” an- 
swered Roger. “ My mask is in the best condi- 
tion now, and you can bet I’m going to see to it 
that it is kept that way. I’d rather have a good 
gas mask in this war than a good suit of clothes or 
new shoes.” 

“Letters! Letters! Letters!” 

It was a welcome cry from the far end of the 
camp, and immediately afterward came a rush 
from all sides, every engineer being more than 
anxious to get tidings from the loved ones left be- 
hind. There was a good-natured scramble as a 
whole sackful of epistles were distributed, and 
then the men drifted off in one direction or another 
to read the precious communications. 

Dave was much disappointed. There was a 
letter from his Uncle Dunston, but none from Jes- 
sie. He had heard from the girl two weeks be- 
fore, but he had hoped that she would send an- 
other communication soon. He saw that Roger 
had a letter from his sister Laura, and knew that 
between Laura’s letter and that from his uncle he 


LETTERS 


39 

would get a good idea of what was taking place in 
Crumville. Phil had been made happy by two 
letters; one, which evidently had been delayed, 
being from Belle Endicott. 

The letter from his Uncle Dunston contained 
several items which were of considerable interest 
to our hero. One was to the effect that the Wen- 
sell Munition Company, in which Dave’s father 
was greatly interested, was doing more war work 
than ever before. And another was that both his 
father and his uncle had been active in the new 
Liberty Loan campaign, and had taken a large 
block of the bonds and had induced Mr. Wads- 
worth to do likewise. 

“ I knew they would do it,” said Dave to him- 
self. ‘‘ They are true blue, every one of them. 
My! from what Uncle Dunston writes, that Lib- 
erty Loan campaign must have been a red-hot 
one.” 

“ Of course we are all very proud of the fact 
that you have become a sergeant,” wrote Dunston 
Porter. “If you keep on the way you have 
started some day you may become a lieutenant or 
a captain, or go even higher. You certainly have 
our best wishes. 

“And that puts me in mind, Dave. You, of 
course, remember Nat Poole, old Aaron Poole’s 
son, with whom you had so many differences in the 
past. Well, that slacker was finally drafted into 
the army in spite of all old Poole could do to keep 


40 DAVE PORTER’S WAR HONORS 

him out. They sent him off to Camp Hickory; 
and now I understand he is on his way to France. 
I hope the war will knock some of the conceit out 
of him.” 

“ Nat Pool coming to France after all! ” Dave 
murmured to himself as he read this portion of the 
letter. “ I don’t see how they expect to make a 
soldier of him.” He well remembered what a 
coward Nat Poole had been and how even at Oak 
Hall he had often tried to shield himself by get- 
ting behind his cronies. 

And then for the time being Dave dismissed 
Nat Poole from his mind, never for a moment 
dreaming of what trouble the coming of this fel- 
low to France portended. 


CHAPTER V 


NEWS FROM HOME 

Immediately after receiving his letter from 
Laura, Roger had been called away to perform 
some duties as a corporal, consequently it was 
not until some time later that Dave met him 
again. In the meantime the young sergeant ran 
across Phil, who was all smiles. 

“ Everything is going along beautifully with 
the Endicotts,” announced the shipowner’s son. 
“ Belle is deep in Red Cross work, and has prom- 
ised to send me a fine sweater she is making for 
the coming winter. Her mother is in the work, 
too. Mr. Endicott, of course, has his hands full 
with railroad matters, for the road is shipping 
large quantities of provisions and war materials, 
as well as many soldiers. He says they are also 
raising an extra large amount of cattle on Star 
Ranch, because the packing-houses want all they 
can get.” 

“ I’m glad to hear everything is going along so 
swimmingly,” announced Dave. 

“ Did you get a letter from Jessie? ” 

“ I did not — worse luck! But I got a letter 
41 


42 


DAVE PORTER’S WAR HONORS 


from my Uncle Dunston, and he says they are all 
well with the exception of poor old Professor 
Potts, who seems to be growing quite feeble. He 
wrote about Nat Poole, who was drafted, and he 
says Nat is now on the way to France.” 

“You don’t say, Dave! That certainly is 
news. How angry old Aaron Poole must have 
been when they drafted Natl ” 

“ I suppose that is so, Phil. But I don’t be- 
lieve Mrs. Poole was angry. If you’ll remember, 
she was quite a patriotic woman, and insisted on 
doing a lot for the Red Cross in spite of her hus- 
band’s objections.” 

“ Yes, I remember that. Probably she is proud 
to know her son is in the army. I’d like to know 
how Nat takes it.” 

“ I’m sure I don’t know. I don’t believe he 
would dare to grumble. The other fellows would 
jump on him pretty quick.” 

“ Perhaps joining the army will make a man of 
him.” 

“ I hope so.” Dave shook his head dolefully. 
“ Nat certainly was a slacker. He didn’t believe 
in fighting, no matter what the provocation.” 

“ If he comes to France perhaps we’ll see him, 
Dave.” 

“ It’s possible, but not very probable, Phil — 
with so many hundreds of thousands coming over. 
He may not come to this part of the country at 


NEWS FROM HOME 


43 


all. You know they are sending some of our 
men up into Belgium, and others down into Italy, 
as well as over here.” 

” Did your uncle have anything to say about 
the Widow Carot and her children, or that ras- 
cally spy, Rudolph Holtzmann? ” 

“ He said that the widow was overjoyed at the 
recovery of her children, and they were greatly 
pleased to think that Holtzmann was going to get 
what was coming to him from the French Gov- 
ernment. Of course, our claim against Holtz- 
mann has not yet been settled; but I think that 
sooner or later we^ll get that money through the 
French courts.” 

A little later Roger came back, and Dave and 
some of his other chums noticed that he looked un- 
usually thoughtful. Dave at once mentioned the 
letter from his Uncle Dunston and told what it 
contained. 

“ You got some letters too, didn’t you, 
Roger? ” he remarked after he had finished tell- 
ing his news and when there had come something 
of an awkward pause. 

“ Yes, I got two; one from my mother and the 
other from Laura. My mother says that she and 
father are well and that father is very deep in 
affairs at Washington. These are certainly mighty 
busy times for a United States senator.” Roger 
paused and Dave waited for him to go on. It 


44 


DAVE PORTER’S WAR HONORS 


was quite usual for the chums to mention what 
their letters contained, and often one or another 
would read a portion of an epistle which he 
thought might prove especially interesting. 

“ Laura also said they were all well at Crumville 
except Professor Potts, who is beginning to show 
his age,” went on the senator’s son. “ She wrote 
me quite a lot about some entertainments they had 
been getting up for the benefit of some local chari- 
ties which have been suffering because of the Red 
Cross and the Y. M. C. A. activities. I suppose 
a good many folks think because they give so much 
to the war organizations, they can’t afford to give 
much for local charities, although local charities 
have to be kept up just the same.” 

And then Roger began to talk about charities 
in general and from that branched off to other sub- 
jects, including the war and the probable move- 
ments of the engineers. It was evident to Dave 
and Phil that he was holding something back, but 
what it was neither of them could imagine. Dave 
hoped with all his heart that no quarrel had arisen 
between his sister and the chum he loved so well. 

“ Roger has got something on his mind — 
that’s sure,” remarked Phil a little later, when he 
and Dave were by themselves. 

“ So it looks to me, Phil. I hope neither of his 
letters contained bad news.” 

“ If it was anything ordinary I think he would 


NEWS FROM HOME 


45 


tell us about it,” continued the shipowner’s son 
thoughtfully. “ It almost looks to me as if it 
might concern us as well as Roger.” 

“ Well, if he doesn’t want to mention it, Phil, I 
certainly am not going to ask him about it.” 

“ Certainly not — it wouldn’t be fair. He has 
a right to keep it a secret if he wants to.” 

All through the evening, when the young engi- 
neers took themselves once again to the Y. M. 
C. A. hut, where a well-known vaudeville singer 
gave a short entertainment which was highly ap- 
preciated, Dave and Phil, as well as some of the 
others, noticed how preoccupied in mind Roger 
continued to be. He paid hardly any attention to 
the singing or the jokes which were told, and 
seemed to be glad when it was over and he could 
return to their quarters and go to bed. 

“ It must be something pretty serious,” whis- 
pered Phil to Dave, as they retired for the night. 

The young corporal was quite surprised when, 
early in the morning, he found himself awakened 
by Roger, who had come over and touched him 
on the shoulder. 

“ As soon as you are dressed, Phil,” whispered 
his chum, I want you to come outside and listen 
to something I have to tell you. But don’t say 
anything to Dave or the others about it. Slip out 
as quietly as you can. I don’t want them to think 
that we’ve anything in secret between us.” And 


46 DAVE PORTER’S WAR HONORS 

then before the shipowner’s son could answer, 
Roger tiptoed away and commenced to dress rap- 
idly and silently. 

A few minutes later found both of the corporals 
outside of the shelter which served them for sleep- 
ing quarters. Then Roger motioned Phil away, 
and they walked quite a distance, to a place where 
they would be safe from interruption. 

“ I want to tell you about that letter I received 
from Laura yesterday,” began the senator’s son. 
“ It’s got something in it, Phil, that I don’t like 
at all.” 

“ I hope it isn’t any serious trouble for you, 
Roger.” 

“ It isn’t trouble for me, Phil. That is, except 
in a general way — the same way it might affect 
you too. It’s trouble for Dave.” 

“Dave! Why, what’s happened? Nobody 
sick or hurt, I hope? ” 

“ No ; it’s nothing like that. Did you ever meet 
a young fellow by the name of Max Gebauer? ” 

Phil thought for a moment. “ It seems to me 
I did. A tall, thin fellow with blue eyes and light 
hair. We met him once or twice at the Wads- 
worth jewelry works.” 

“ That’s the chap. His folks have jewelry 
works of some kind in Philadelphia, and this Max 
Gebauer came to Crumville to see Mr. Wads- 
worth on business.” 


NEWS FROM HOME 


47 


“ Well, how does that affect Dave? ” 

“ You just read these few pages from Laura’s 
letter,” returned Roger, and handed over the 
sheets. Laura had been writing of the entertain- 
ments given in Crumville for the benefit of the 
local charities, and added the following: 

‘‘ And now I have got to write something 
which is very distasteful to me, Roger, for it con- 
cerns Jessie and Dave in a way I do not like to 
think about. 

“ At the time we were getting up the principal 
entertainment, that young salesman. Max Ge- 
bauer, who, as you will remember, is in the jewelry 
business with his father and his uncle in Philadel- 
phia, was in Crumville to see Mr. Wadsworth. 
He is now a lieutenant in the army, and looks 
quite spick and span in his new uniform. Mr. 
Wadsworth was so enthusiastic to think that Ge- 
bauer had joined the army and was soon going 
over to France, he invited him to the house for 
dinner. 

“ We, of course, did our best to entertain him, 
and he seemed particularly interested in Jessie — 
so much so that he asked her to allow him to do 
a number of things connected with the entertain- 
ment, and he likewise purchased ten dollars’ worth 
of tickets from her, which, of course, pleased her 
a good deal. Then, when the entertainment came 
off, he presented her with a beautiful bouquet of 
American Beauty roses, and later still gave her a 
very handsome Red Cross emblem, which, it 
seems, their firm has something to do with manu- 


48 DAVE PORTER’S WAR HONORS 

facturing. He gave the pin to Mr. Wadsworth 
to give to Jessie, so that she had no chance to re- 
fuse it even if she wanted to. 

“ Since that time he has been to Crumville three 
times, and on each occasion managed to call on 
Jessie. Once while he was out in an automobile 
he met her on the outskirts of the town, where she 
had been visiting one of our poor families, and in- 
sisted on taking her for a ride. 

“ Now, I don’t think Jessie intends to do any- 
thing that is mean, but Gebauer is well educated, 
and can make himself very pleasing when he tries, 
and he has certainly done everything in his power 
to attract her. She, of course, feels flattered at 
the attentions of an army officer, and I know some 
of the other girls in Crumville are beginning to 
envy her just a little and some are talking about 
her. 

“ Now, I suppose, Roger, you will wonder at 
once why I have not had a straight talk with Jes- 
sie and why I haven’t told her exactly what I think 
of all this. Well, to do that is not easy with such 
a girl as she is. As an pnly child she has been 
very much petted and allowed to have her own 
way, and she often sees no wrong at all in things 
which I sometimes think might be different. I did 
mention once, in an offhand way, that I thought 
Gebauer was growing too attentive, but she merely 
laughed and tossed her head and told me there 
was nothing I needed to worry about. And then 
she told me, a while later, she didn’t understand 
why Dave didn’t write oftener — that she had not 
had a letter from him for two weeks. 

“ All of this makes me greatly worried, but I do 


NEWS FROM HOME 


49 


not know what to do. Once or twice I have 
thought of speaking to Mrs. Wadsworth, but I 
am afraid that might only make matters worse. 
She doesn’t seem to notice how attentive Gebauer 
has become or notice how some folks are talking 
about Jessie. I wish the lieutenant would get or- 
ders to leave for France at once.” 

Phil read the sheets through twice before he 
handed them back to Roger. Then the chums 
looked at each other thoughtfully. Roger was 
the first to break {he silence. 

“ Do you wonder I was worried after I read 
that? ” he demanded. 

“ It certainly is fierce ! ” was Phil’s comment. 
“ But, Roger, you don’t suppose for a minute 
that Jessie would go back on Dave? ” 

“ I don’t see how it could be possible — unless 
the sight of the lieutenant in his uniform has com- 
pletely turned Jessie’s head.” 

“ But Jessie’s too sensible for anything like 
that, isn’t she? ” 

“ I should hope so, Phil. But you never can 
tell. You know there are lots of girls who for 
some reason or other don’t seem to be able to 
resist a uniform. Even the cook feels flattered by 
the fireman or the policeman.” 

“Yes; but Dave’s in uniform, and he’s a ser- 
geant.” 

“ True. But he is over three thousand miles 


50 DAVE PORTER’S WAR HONORS 

away, while this Gebauer is right on the spot. I 
wish, as Laura says, that Gebauer would get his 
orders to leave at once.” 

“ Yes, that’s the best thing that could happen.” 

“ I don’t know whether to mention this to Dave 
or not,” went on Roger, after a pause. “ I don’t 
want to worry him needlessly, and at the same 
time I think he ought to know what is going on at 
home.” 

“ I know he has been writing to Jessie regularly. 
I saw him send off the letters myself.” 

“ I know that, too. It must be the fault of the 
post-office that she doesn’t get them.” 

“ He didn’t get any letter this time from Jessie, 
and that I am afraid is making him feel quite 
blue. He heard from his Uncle Dunston, and 
that’s all.” 

The two talked the matter over for several min- 
utes more, and then reached the conclusion that it 
might be as well to remain silent on the subject 
for at least several days longer, trusting that dur- 
ing that period a letter might come from Jessie 
which would clear up the situation. 

During the past few days the ammunition dump 
which Dave had discovered, and part of which 
had been blown up, had been subject to an investi- 
gation by those in authority. Several hundred 
shells were found unexploded, and these were 
taken to a safe place and stored away. It was 


NEWS FROM HOME 


51 

learned that a mine had been placed on the old 
trail through the wood, and this had gone up, 
doing, however, no further damage than to uproot 
some trees and brushwood. 

Dave received permission to visit the spot and 
did so in company with Phil and Ben, Roger re- 
maining behind to favor his hurt ankle, which 
still pained him a little. 

The young sergeant was, of course, anxious to 
find his lost wrist-watch, and a search was insti- 
tuted which lasted the best part of half a day. 
But it was of no avail — the timepiece could not 
be located. 

“ I guess it’s of no use — we might as well give 
it up,” said Dave at last. “ Come on, we’ll go 
back to camp.” 

And this they did. The young sergeant felt 
decidedly blue, and he had two things to make him 
feel so : the loss of the watch and the fact that he 
had not heard from Jessie for some time. 


CHAPTER VI 


A BATTLE IN THE AIR 

‘‘ Phew, but this is hot I ” 

“ I guess we’re going to pay up for that wet 
weather we had.” 

“ I wonder how many more miles we’ve got to 
hike over this road? ” 

“ No less than three, so the top sergeant told 
me,” answered Dave, to whom the question was 
put. 

It was about a week after the events narrated 
in the last chapter, and the fighting engineers, as 
they were familiarly called, were once more forg- 
ing toward the battle front. The storms of the 
past three weeks had cleared away, and the hot 
summer sun beat down upon them with all its in- 
tensity. 

During the time spent in camp Roger had re- 
covered from the injury to his ankle and was now 
around as before. He had had another conversa- 
tion with Phil regarding the letter received from 
Laura, and both had again decided not to say any- 
thing to Dave concerning Max Gebauer. But 
they had spoken to Dave in a casual way about his 
52 


A BATTLE IN THE AIR 


53 


not receiving a letter from Jessie and had said 
that possibly she was not getting the letters he had 
forwarded. 

“ Well, I can’t do anything more than write 
and mail the letters,” had been the young ser- 
geant’s reply to this. Nevertheless, his chums 
had noticed with satisfaction that he wrote another 
letter to Jessie that very evening and was particu- 
ular to see that it was properly addressed and 
taken care of. 

In the meantime Roger had forwarded his 
reply to Dave’s sister, and in that communication 
he told Laura he hoped she would keep her eyes 
on Jessie and see that Gebauer did not have a 
chance to become intimate with the girl. He 
also asked Dave’s sister to send him word if any- 
thing out of the ordinary occurred. 

The engineers were moving along with their 
full equipment on their backs. Behind them 
came a string of motor-lorries, carrying great 
quantities of tools, and also some explosives. 

By nightfall they had reached a spot not far 
from the fighting front. They had turned off 
from the main road and were now passing 
through a small French hamlet, beyond which 
was a small hill hedged in on all sides by a thick 
forest. 

“ Orders are to clear a road around one side 
of this hill, and do it as quickly as possible,” an- 


54 


DAVE PORTER’S WAR HONORS 


nounced Captain Obray. “ We’ll have to blast 
out some of the rocks and cut down a number of 
trees, I am afraid. ” 

The work was started early in the morning, 
after a night which was not altogether a comfort- 
able one. There was a rumor throughout the 
camp that the Germans might make a raid over 
No Man’s Land, probably with the idea of ob- 
taining some prisoners from whom they could 
obtain much-desired information. Consequently 
the engineers were all more or less on their 
guard. 

“ I’m sure I don’t want to become a German 
prisoner,” remarked Ben. “ From what I’ve 
heard, they don’t treat their prisoners very well.” 

“Well!” cried Phil. “They treat ’em the 
meanest ever! ” 

“ Say, that puts me in mind of a story I heard 
the other day,” said Shadow. “ Oh, this is 
true ! ” he added hastily, when he saw several of 
the others shake their heads. “ A tall, lanky 
Western doughboy was at the front on duty at 
night when he heard somebody approaching. 
He immediately called to the fellow to halt. 
Then he discovered that the fellow was walking 
with both hands high in the air and muttering 
something to himself. The fellow kept coming 
on until he was right at the end of the dough- 
boy’s bayonet. Then the doughboy gave him a 


A BATTLE IN THE AIR 55 

little jab, and the fellow set up a scream and sud- 
denly opened his eyes. He was a German sol- 
dier and a sleep-walker. Of course, the dough- 
boy made him a prisoner without delay.” 

“Wow! what do you think of that?” cried 
Ben. 

“ Say, Shadow, you be careful that you don’t 
do any sleep-walking yourself, like you did at 
Oak Hall,” broke in Phil. “ You don’t want to 
go over No Man’s Land and get on the ridge- 
pole of some schoolhouse, like you did when we 
were at the Hall,” he continued, referring to an 
incident the particulars of which were given in 
“ Dave Porter and His Classmates.” 

“ I’ve given up walking in my sleep. It 
doesn’t pay,” returned the story-teller quickly. 

“ Talking about the sleep-walker giving him- 
self up,” put in Dave, “ I heard a pretty good 
story the other day about a German who met one 
of our men at the edge of the wood. He showed 
a white handkerchief — or at least a handker- 
chief that had once been white — and then came 
over to talk to the sentry. He said he had once 
been In Chicago and liked our country first rate, 
and he was willing to surrender, provided the 
sentry would let him go back and get his brother 
and his cousin, so that they could all keep to- 
gether and not feel lonely.” 

“ And did the sentry do It? ” queried Roger. 


56 DAVE PORTER’S WAR HONORS 

“Yes, after he had taken away the fellow’s 
gun and helmet. The young German was gone 
about a quarter of an hour, and then came back 
followed by four others. They were his cousin 
and his brother, and two friends who had like- 
wise concluded to give themselves up. You can 
imagine how proud that doughboy was to march 
that gang of five prisoners into camp.” 

For three days the engineering unit to which 
our friends belonged, aided by another unit from 
the East and two from the Middle West, toiled 
at the task which had been assigned to them. 
Here and there the rocks barred their passage, 
and these were blasted out as the easiest means 
of getting rid of them. Not a few tall trees 
were chopped down, and over two hundred of 
the engineers were set to work clearing away the 
brushwood. In the meantime another unit of 
engineers worked on a path leading to the top of 
the hill, and a little later a masked battery was 
stationed there, ready to open fire on the German 
lines northeast of that vicinity. 

It must not be surmised that the work the en- 
gineers had to do was without peril. Even 
though the spot was deep in the woods and some- 
what isolated, not a few German shells of large 
caliber were sent in that direction. 

“ Confound it ! those shells are coming too 
close for comfort,” remarked Phil, one after- 


A BATTLE IN THE AIR 


57 


noon, when a projectile had gone whining over 
their heads to fall less than a hundred yards be- 
hind them. 

So far they had not seen any airplanes in that 
vicinity, but on the following morning early they 
espied two German scout-planes high in the air 
circling slowly about. 

“ I suppose they suspected something was go- 
ing on around here and they have sent out those 
machines to make sure,” remarked Frank An- 
drews to our hero. “ I wish our own airmen 
would get after them.” 

His wish was soon gratified. Looking in the 
direction where they knew the American aviation 
camp was stationed, the engineers presently saw 
four of the planes taking the flight upward. 
They came on straight for the spot where the en- 
gineers were working, and those below made up 
their minds that a battle in the air was imminent. 

“Gee, I hope our men get those fellows!” 
cried Roger. “ It will serve ’em right for com- 
ing here to spy on us.” 

As the four American aviators advanced they 
spread out, two keeping somewhat to the rear 
while the third headed northward and the fourth 
southward. Thus they soon formed a sort of 
semicircle around the German planes. 

By this time the enemy airmen had probably 
made all the observations they wished or that 


58 DAVE PORTER’S WAR HONORS 

they felt capable of making, and they* turned 
back, evidently with the intention of passing over 
their own lines. 

“ If only we had an anti-aircraft gun here and 
could take a few shots at them ! ” sighed Dave. 

The American fliers were still somewhat to the 
rear, but when they saw the two enemy scout- 
planes trying to escape they opened fire on them. 
Even at that distance the flashes from the guns 
could be seen, although if there were any sounds 
they were lost in the explosions of the motors 
and the distant firing of artillery. 

The contest in the air now grew so exciting 
that nearly all the engineers stopped work to wit- 
ness it. One of the American airmen could evi- 
dently get no speed out of his machine, and soon 
he fell behind. But the other three kept on, and 
one of them presently came close to one of the 
enemy planes. Then came a sudden flash of fire, 
and the German plane was seen to crumple up 
and come down, a mile or more beyond the edge 
of the forest. 

“Hurrah! they’ve got one of them anyhow,” 
exclaimed Ben. 

“ And now for the other! ” added Shadow. 

The flight of the other plane continued, but 
soon it was evident the German felt he could not 
escape by straight flying. He suddenly made a 


A BATTLE IN THE AIR 


59 


dive to the northward, and then began to mount 
higher and higher, circling and twisting first in 
one direction and then in another. The three 
Americans went after him as quickly as they 
could, firing their machine-guns whenever it 
seemed advantageous to do so. The American 
airmen had, of course, to be careful so that they 
might not fire into each other. 

“ That’s a battle royal, all right enough,” was 
Dave’s comment, as the contest kept up as vigor- 
ously as ever. “If that German escapes he’ll 
certainly have won his liberty.” 

The fourth American plane had now dropped 
back still further, and soon it began to head for 
the aviation camp, suffering probably from en- 
gine or other trouble. Then one of the other 
planes began to move away. A minute later its 
motor began to miss fire, and then stopped com- 
pletely. 

“See, he’s out of it!” cried Roger. “He’s 
going to volplane to the ground.” 

“ He’ll be lucky if he reaches the ground with- 
out breaking his neck,” announced Phil. And 
he was right; the second American had all he 
could do to bring his machine down in safety be- 
yond the big trees of the forest. 

With but two of the Americans left in the fight, 
the German airman seemed to pluck up courage. 


6o 


DAVE PORTER’S WAR HONORS 


He did not attempt to do any firing, but made a 
new turn or two, and then started away, as if to 
try once more for the German lines. 

But now he reckoned without the cleverness of 
one of the American airmen. This fellow put 
on a sudden burst of speed and, like a bird on 
the wing, he came directly behind the German. 
His machine-gun began to spit spitefully, and a 
moment later those on the ground far below saw 
a portion of the" German plane drop away from 
the machine proper. 

“Hello, there goes his rudder!” cried Cap- 
tain Obray, who was looking through his field 
glasses. “ The whole steering apparatus has 
been shot away! Now I reckon he’s about done 
for.” 

That was indeed the plight of the German air- 
man, for with the rudder gone, he was practically 
helpless to guide his machine. His motor stopped 
— whether he turned it off or it stopped of itself 
they could not tell — and then the scout machine 
began to turn and twist in a fantastic course down 
from the sky. 

“ That’s the end of that flying man,” was 
Ben’s comment. 

“ I wonder if he’s doing anything at all to 
save himself? ” said Dave. 

“ I don’t see what he can do,” returned Roger. 

This way and that way rushed the helpless 


A BATTLE IN THE AIR 


6i 


war-plane. As it came down it made several 
turns, and then headed suddenly toward the for- 
est where the engineers were working. 

“ It’s coming down pretty close to this spot! ” 
exclaimed Dave. 

“Take care of yourselves, men!” cried Cap- 
tain Obray. “ Don’t give that plane a chance 
to hit you ! ” He had not forgotten the acci- 
dent which had happened to Roger, Phil and 
Dave when a plane had come down in flames, as 
related in our last volume. 

All of the engineers were on the alert. But 
this caution was unnecessary. Another dart or 
two through the sky, and then the enemy airplane 
finally came down at a point in the forest some 
distance away. As it did this it burst into flames, 
and soon those on the ground saw a heavy smoke 
coming up from the spot where it was burning up. 

“ I wonder if the fellow who was running it 
escaped?” cried Phil. 

“Let us go and see,” returned Dave; and, 
having received the necessary permission, the 
young sergeant hurried off through the forest 
toward the burning airplane, taking a detail of 
eight young engineers with him. 


CHAPTER VII 


THE GERMAN AVIATOR 

The smoke from the burning airplane was 
plainly visible over the tops of the trees, so that 
Dave and the detail of engineers under him had 
no difficulty in heading in the right direction. 

But to get through that tangle of underbrush 
and over the jagged rocks was not easy, and con- 
sequently their progress was rather slow, even 
though they pushed along as vigorously as cir- 
cumstances permitted. 

“ If that airman came down in his burning 
plane he has probably been burned up,” re- 
marked Phil, as they hurried along. 

“ I hope not,” returned Dave. “ I hope he 
escaped and we have the honor of capturing him.” 

“ It’s too bad the plane caught fire,” put in 
Roger. He knew that the rival air forces liked 
very much to capture an enemy plane intact, or 
nearly so. On such a plane they would often find 
maps and instruments, not to say anything of ma- 
chine-guns. 

At last they came in sight of the burning plane. 


THE GERMAN AVIATOR 


63 

which still blazed forth fiercely. It was caught 
in the branches of a low tree. Its gasoline tanks 
had burst and the inflammable fluid had run 
down over the tree trunk making of it a great 
torch. 

As the engineers reached a little opening to 
one side of where the scout plane and the tree 
were blazing fiercely, they heard a shrill cry 
in German for help. 

“Look! Look! ” burst from Phil’s lips, and 
he pointed with his hand as he spoke. 

All gazed in the direction indicated and saw 
something which filled them with horror. 
Caught in a fork of one of the limbs of the tree 
was the German aviator. His jacket had be- 
come fastened on the branch, and he was trying 
vainly to extricate himself from his perilous po- 
sition. The flames were already within three 
feet of him, and the back of his heavy fur jacket 
was singed and smoking. 

“He’ll be burned up as sure as fate! ” cried 
Ben. 

“ He will be unless we can save him,” returned 
Dave. 

“ I don’t see how you are going to do it, 
Dave,” remarked Shadow. “ How are you go- 
ing to reach him? ” 

The helpless airman was at least twenty feet 
from the ground. All he could do was to twist 


64 DAVE PORTER’S WAR HONORS 

himself In his perilous position, but to get free 
from the limb seemed impossible. 

“Gee! he doesn’t seem to make much of an 
effort to free himself,” observed one of the other 
engineers. He did not realize the truth of the 
situation, which was that the apparently helpless 
man was suffering from a broken arm and a dislo- 
cated shoulder. 

The gasoline from the broken tanks had flowed 
over the brushwood at the foot of the tree, and 
this was now causing the flames to mount up di- 
rectly under the German. This being the case, 
even had he freed himself he would have 
dropped into the fire. 

Dave was the first to act. His quick eye had 
noted a tall tree standing five or six yards away, 
and he made for this without delay. 

“ Boost me up, you fellows, and be quick 
about it; and then some of you follow me,” he 
ordered. 

Roger and Phil helped him to mount into the 
tree, and then the two of them, aided by the 
other engineers, came up also. By this time 
Dave had selected the limb he wished to utilize, 
and he crawled slowly out on this, testing its 
strength as he progressed. 

“ It’s plenty strong enough to hold all of us,” 
he announced to his two chums. “ Come on out. 
I want it to bend down as much as possible.” 


THE GERMAN AVIATOR 65 

By this time the others understood the scheme 
which had entered our hero’s head. The tall 
tree was a wide-spreading one, and the branch 
he had selected bent over in the direction of the 
tree which was on fire. Soon the combined 
weight of the three engineers caused it to bend 
until the outer end was directly over the spot 
where the German aviator rested. 

“ Now you fellows get back a little and I’ll 
go forward,” said Dave. “ As soon as I’ve got 
hold of him you go back farther yet, so that the 
weight of the four of us won’t crack the branch 
off.” 

Phil and Roger understood, and as Dave went 
forward they retreated just enough so that the 
outer end of the branch might remain in prac- 
tically the same position. 

It was a perilous climb for the young sergeant, 
and no one realized this more than himself. 
Being directly over the branch where the German 
rested, he was likewise over that portion of the 
brushwood below which was on fire. The smoke 
was coming up thickly, choking and blinding him. 

At last he was out to within three feet of the 
end of the limb. He had his legs around it 
firmly, and now he bent down and by teetering 
the limb just a trifle managed to get within dis- 
tance of the fellow below. 

The German aviator had continued to call for 


66 


DAVE PORTER’S WAR HONORS 


help in his own language. Now, as Dave drew 
closer, he heard the talk of the Americans and 
cried out in broken English: 

“ You safe me, blease! You safe me, blease! ” 

“ I’ll do it if I can, Fritzie,” answered Dave. 
“ Give me your hand.” 

“ I gif vun hand ! Other arm broken I ” 
gasped out the hurt airman. 

As well as he was able, he put out his unin- 
jured arm, and Dave grasped it. Then, holding 
tight with his legs, the young sergeant succeeded 
in raising the fellow from his position in the 
crotch of the branch which had now taken fire. 
He had to pull with considerable force to get the 
fellow free from his entanglement. 

“Look out, Dave, or you’ll both fall!” 
warned Phil. 

“ I’ve got him, but I don’t just see how I’m 
going to get him down from the tree,” announced 
our hero. 

The smoke was now coming up so thickly that 
he was almost blinded, and both he and the 
hurt aviator began coughing. 

“ Swing him around so that we can get hold 
of him,” suggested Roger. 

With great care Dave shifted his position, and 
then worked his way backward about a foot 
along the limb. Here he felt a little more se- 
cure, and then swung the hurt man around until 



As WELL AS HE WAS ABLE, HE PUT OUT HIS UNINJURED ARM AND 

Dave grasped it. — Page 66. 




THE GERMAN AVIATOR 


67 

Phil and Roger could get hold of him. The 
German uttered several moans of pain and then 
collapsed into insensibility. 

“ Be careful how you handle him, fellows,” 
said Dave, when he and his chums had the air- 
man safe between them. “ He said his arm was 
broken.” 

“ He can be thankful he didn’t break his neck 
with such a tumble as that,” returned Roger. 

One of the engineers on the ground below had 
a strong rope with him, and this was thrown 
over the limb of the tree. A noose was placed 
around the German’s body, and then he was 
slowly and carefully lowered to the ground, after 
which Dave and the others descended from the 
tree. 

While the rescue was taking place three of the 
engineers had gone around to the other side of 
the blaze, trying to get at the burning plane. 
They had managed with long sticks to poke a few 
things away from the fusilage, but these proved 
to be of but little importance and were carried 
off by all of the crowd merely as souvenirs. 

The German was still insensible, and it was 
not until he had been carried to a safe distance 
and the engineers had dashed some water 
into his face that he recovered and opened his 
eyes. In the meantime, five of the men were de- 
tailed to watch the fire and see to it that it burned 


68 


DAVE PORTER’S WAR HONORS 


itself out without starting a general conflagration 
through the forest. 

“ We don’t want these woods burned up just 
yet,” was the way Dave expressed himself. 
“ We need the trees to screen our operations in 
this vicinity.” 

The prisoner proved to be a man not over twen- 
ty-five years of age. That he was well educated 
was evident. Like most aviators, he was of 
slight build, and he had light hair and gray eyes. 
He gave his name as Heinrich Eberhardt, and 
told the aviation unit to which he belonged. 

“ I am very thankful to you for having saved 
my life,” he said, in his broken English, to Dave 
and the others. “ If you had not come to my 
aid, I would have been burned up,” and he shud- 
dered. 

“ I’d hate to see anybody burned alive,” re- 
turned Dave. Then he questioned the aviator 
about himself and learned that the fellow had 
leaped from the burning scout-plane while he was 
yet a hundred feet or more above the tree. 

“ Had I not done that I would have been 
burned alive in mid-air,” continued Heinrich 
Eberhardt, in his broken English. “ Such 
things often happen. One of my best friends 
was burned up that way last year.” 

As the hurt aviator was in no condition to 
walk, word was sent back to the camp of the en- 


THE GERMAN AVIATOR 69 

gineers, and a little later hospital men came after 
him with a stretcher. This, however, took some 
time, and in the meanwhile Dave had an oppor- 
tunity to ask the fellow some questions, being 
glad to know that the man could speak English, 
even though brokenly. 

“ I and my twin brother, Fritz, are alone in 
the world,” said Heinrich Eberhardt. “ Both 
of our parents died when we were small boys, 
and we were brought up by an uncle who had 
spent a few years in America and England. He 
could speak English very well indeed, and he in- 
sisted upon it that we learn something of the lan- 
guage, stating that it would be good for us in 
business. But neither my brother Fritz nor I 
cared to study any too well, so we didn’t learn 
any more than we had to,” and Heinrich Eber- 
hardt smiled faintly. Dave and the others had 
rendered him what first aid they could, and made 
him as comfortable as possible on a pile of 
brushwood. He was, of course, suffering much 
pain, but he was too plucky to complain. 

“ Well, what do you think of the war? ” ques- 
tioned Roger. 

“ I think it’s a bad affair — a very bad affair 
indeed, especially for the English and the Amer- 
icans,” answered the German aviator readily. 

“Then you still think Germany will win? ” put 
in Phil. 


70 DAVE PORTER’S WAR HONORS 

“ To be sure. Why not? ” returned the Ger- 
man in his broken English. “ No combination 
of nations can master the Vaterland. It cannot 
be done. We are too strong for them. We 
have too much system and too much science.” 

“ But what do you think of the American 
army? ” questioned Dave. 

At this Heinrich Eberhardt pursed up his lips 
and was silent for a moment. 

“ You have been very good to me, so why 
should I say anything against you? ” he answered 
finally. “ But if you must know the truth, let 
me say I think you can do little or nothing in 
this war. You are too far away. Your Presi- 
dent may send a few hundred thousand men over 
here, but that will count for nothing.” 

“ Don’t you know we have over a million men 
in France already? ” demanded Phil. 

“ A million? Oh, no, nothing like that! You 
couldn’t possibly get them here. .Our U-boats 
would stop your troopships and sink them. At 
the most, you may get over a few hundred thou- 
sand. But I doubt very much if it will be that 
many.” 

“ Some day you’ll have your eyes opened to 
the truth of what is going on,” said Dave. 
“ But now you had better keep quiet. I have 
sent for the stretcher-bearers, and I think they’ll 
get here before long, and then they’ll carry you 


THE GERMAN AVIATOR 71 

to the hospital, where you will get proper treat- 
ment.” 

“ Could you send word back that I am alive? ” 
asked the hurt man eagerly. 

“ I guess that can be arranged through the 
Allied airmen,” answered Dave. He knew that 
there was an unwritten law among all the fliers of 
the various nations that word concerning any air- 
man who was killed, injured, or captured, should 
be carried over the enemies’ lines by means of a 
note dropped from some flying machine. 

“ If that is done I shall be very, very grate- 
ful,” said Heinrich Eberhardt. “ I want my 
brother Fritz to know that I am alive.” 

Presently the stretcher-bearers came into view, 
and Dave saw to it personally that the captured 
German received proper attention. Then the 
aviator was taken away. 

“ Not a half bad sort,” was Roger’s comment, 
when he and the others were making their way 
back to the engineering camp. 

“ They’ve all got the same idea regarding the 
United States,” answered Dave. “ They think 
it’s impossible for Uncle Sam to get a big army 
over here. They won’t believe the story that 
we already have over a million men in the field.” 

“ And another million or two on the way,” 
added Phil. 

“ Well, it’s a tremendous undertaking,” broke in 


72 DAVE PORTER’S WAR HONORS 

Ben. “ Think of sending so many men as that 
on a sea voyage of three thousand miles, and 
then taking care of them after they arrive I ” 

“ It is a big undertaking,” said Shadow. 
“ And it’s no wonder that it takes billions of dol- 
lars to do it.” 

“ It must be exciting to be an army aviator,” 
continued Dave. “ Far more exciting than being 
just an engineer.” 

“ Oh, I don’t know about that,” answered 
Roger. “ Of course, some of the airmen — 
especially those who get to be aces — have plenty 
of things happen to them. But I was talking to 
one of the French aviators not long ago — one 
who has been in the service since the war started 
— and he said all he had been able to do was to 
go up and take observations and report. There 
couldn’t be anything very exciting about that.” 

“ Oh, we’ve had excitement enough — no doubt 
of that,” returned Dave. “ And it looks to me as 
if there was a good deal more excitement ahead.” 

“ Right you are, Dave! ” cried Roger. “ I’ll 
wager before we know it we’ll be in the very thick 
of it.” 


CHAPTER VIII 


THE PERILS OF ROAD BUILDING 

“ We’ve got it hot enough now, Dave.” 

“ I agree with you, Roger. The Huns are 
certainly bombarding us for fair.” 

“ Did you see that tree come down a few min- 
utes ago?” asked Phil. “It landed within a 
dozen feet of Captain Obray and Frank An- 
drews.” 

“ The German air scouts — those three fel- 
lows who sailed this way yesterday afternoon — 
must have sent in word of where we were located 
and what we were doing,” continued Dave. 
“ It’s too bad our men didn’t get a chance to 
bring them down as they did those others.” 

“ I wonder what they did with that Heinrich 
Eberhardt? ” broke in Shadow, who was work- 
ing in the gang with the others. 

“ He is in the hospital, and I heard yesterday 
that he is doing very well,” answered Dave. 

“ I wish we were sure poor Buster was going 
to get over that gas attack,” went on the former 
story-teller of Oak Hall. “ Gee ! it’s a shame 
that he was knocked out that way.” 

73 


74 


DAVE PORTER’S WAR HONORS 


“ As soon as I can get off I’m going to take a 
run back to the hospital and see how Buster is 
making it,” said Dave. “ I think I’m entitled to 
a leave of absence; I haven’t been off since last 
winter.” 

“ If you do get off, I’ll try to get off at the 
same time,” cried Roger quickly. 

“ And so will I,” added Phil. 

Ten days had passed since the spectacular res- 
cue of the Hun aviator from the burning plane 
and tree, and during that time the fighting en- 
gineers had well deserved the appellation applied 
to them. They had advanced their road 
through the forest for a considerable distance, 
and had had two brushes with the enemy, one a 
night raid which had come most unexpectedly; 
but the blood of the engineers had been up, and 
they had beaten the Germans back with the loss 
of but two men slightly wounded, while three of 
the enemy had been killed and one taken pris- 
oner. 

They had also been under artillery fire on more 
than one occasion, and now this artillery fire was 
again directed toward them. 

“ If those Germans were only a little better 
marksmen there wouldn’t be anything left of us, I 
imagine,” remarked Phil a little later, after a 
shell had gone whining over their heads, to ex- 
plode among some roots in the rear. 


THE PERILS OF ROAD BUILDING 75 

“ I don’t believe it’s altogether a case of their 
marksmanship,” returned Dave. “ I had a talk 
with Captain Obray one day, and he said infor- 
mation had come in that the German ammunition 
was steadily deteriorating, due I suppose, to the 
fact that they can’t get hold of the metal and 
chemicals they would like to use.” 

The young engineers had been working on a 
small exposed length of the roadway, but now 
came orders to advance to a point where they 
would be sheltered in part by a series of rocks 
and heavy trees. 

Suddenly came a sound from their rear which 
gave them intense satisfaction. During the past 
week the road up the little hill behind them had 
been completed, and an American battery had 
been located there. This battery now opened 
with vigor, sending toward the German lines at 
least four shells for every one coming the other 
way. 

“ That will teach the Heinies a lesson,” re- 
marked Phil grimly. “ I hope some of our shells 
reach their batteries and put them out of com- 
mission.” 

“ I guess we all hope that, Phil,” returned 
Dave. 

The bombardment from both sides increased 
in intensity as the day advanced. And it must 
be admitted that all of the engineers worked un- 


76 DAVE PORTER’S WAR HONORS 

der a tremendous nervous strain, not knowing at 
what instant a shell might explode among them, 
causing much destruction. 

“ No use in talking, Dave, we are taking our 
lives in our hands here, in spite of the protection 
of the rocks and trees,” remarked Roger. 

He had scarcely uttered the words when a 
shell came over the trees in front of them, to hit 
the rocks a short distance to their left. It 
exploded with tremendous force, scattering pieces 
of shrapnel, bits of wood, loose stones, and 
chunks of dirt in all directions. 

Dave was hit in the chin by a small stone, and 
a stick of wood caught him directly across the 
stomach, doubling him up for the time being. 
Roger and some of the others were also struck, 
while Ben received a shower of dirt in his eyes 
which almost blinded him. 

“ Great Caesar ! ” exclaimed Phil, after the 
excitement attending the explosion had somewhat 
subsided. “ That’s getting almost too close for 
comfort.” 

‘‘Anybody seriously injured?” questioned the 
young sergeant, as he wiped a little blood from 
his chin and put his hand down on his stomach, 
which felt sore from the blow. 

“ I’ve got about a pound of dirt in my eyes,” 
answered Ben, as he started to wipe his optics 
with a corner of his handkerchief. 


THE PERILS OF ROAD BUILDING 77 

No one had been seriously injured, for which 
all were thankful, but there were numerous small 
cuts and bruises, and the engineers retired closer 
to the shelter of the rocks to catch their breath 
and attend to their hurts. 

“ What damage did that shell do? ” demanded 
Captain Obray, as he came up on the double- 
quick, for he had been with a gang some distance 
away. 

Dave made his report, and the captain looked 
the men over. 

“ You’ve got to keep your eyes and ears open 
for those shells,” said the officer. “ If you think 
they are coming anywhere near you, don’t wait, 
but throw yourselves flat on your face. By do- 
ing that you may save your life.” 

A little later the engineers were out on the 
roadway working as industriously as ever. Only 
one man remained behind, he having fallen over 
some rough rocks and bruised his elbows. 

It was almost nightfall, and the bombardment 
seemed to be slowing up, when Dave found him- 
self with the gang under him at a turn in the 
roadway which was being constructed. Here on 
one side were several walls of rocks, while on the 
other the roadway was lined with a series of 
heavy trees backed up in some places by thick 
brushwood. 

“ Almost time to knock off, isn’t it? ” said Ben. 


78 DAVE PORTER’S WAR HONORS 

He had put in an unusually big day, and his back 
ached. 

“ We’ll knock off in about an hour, Ben,” an- 
swered Dave. “Pretty heavy work, isn’t it?” 

“ I never thought I’d work as hard as this 
in my whole life, Dave,” answered the son of 
the leading real estate dealer of Crumville. 
“ Gosh ! I wonder what my dad and ma would 
say if they could see me now? Dad used to think 
I didn’t even like to cut the wood at home or 
weed the garden, and just look at all the wood- 
cutting I’ve done, not to say anything about shov- 
eling dirt, hauling stone, and building trenches 
and dugouts.” 

“ Never mind, we’ve got a good reason for 
doing this, Ben. When you come to think of that 
reason it makes it worth while, doesn’t it? ” 

“ Indeed it does, Dave ! And don’t think for 
a minute that I’m complaining. If doing this 
kind of work is going to help win the war, then 
they can depend on my sticking on the job until 
we march right into Berlin.” 

“ Say, wouldn’t that be fine? ” exclaimed Phil. 
“ How I’d like to march down Unter den Linden 
singing ‘ Over There I ’ or some other of our pop- 
ular songs I ” 

“ I don’t believe Germany will allow the war 
to go that far,” answered Dave. “ They know 
well enough how angry all the Allies are because 


THE PERILS OF ROAD BUILDING 79 

of the wanton destruction in France and Belgium, 
and they’ll most likely be afraid that if we got 
into Germany we’d start to rip things up the same 
way.” 

“ Do you mean by that, Dave, that they’d give 
in before we got into Germany?:” demanded 
Phil. 

“ That’s the way I figure it. I don’t believe 
they’ll allow any of the Allies to get a foot far- 
ther than the Rhine.” 

“ How are they going to stop us if we push 
our way through? ” questioned Ben. 

“ Only one way to do that, Ben. They’ll have 
to ask for peace. And that is what I think they’ll 
do. Behind it all, I think the common German 
people, as well as their allies, are sick and tired 
of the conflict. They have been hemmed in on 
all sides for several years, and been unable to 
get supplies from the outside world, and the 
whole thing hasn’t sat very well on their stom- 
achs. I think if they could get out of this war 
gracefully they would do it in a minute.” 

“ That aviator we captured didn’t talk that 
way.” 

“ He was putting on a front — that’s all. 
Germany may have had some notion that with 
the collapse of Russia she might be able to get 
the better of France, Italy, and England before 
we got into the fight. But now that we are 


8o DAVE PORTER’S WAR HONORS 


bringing our men over here by the thousands ev- 
ery week, she must realize that the jig is up.” 

“ I can’t see it that way,” said Shadow. “ I 
think she’ll fight to the last ditch.” 

“ Well, if she does. Shadow, it will mean a terri- 
ble ending for her. The Allies will keep on 
pounding her until there will be nothing left to 
pound.” 

“ That’s what I’d like to see ! ” cried Phil. 
“ I’d like to march right into Germany and give 
them the same dose of medicine that they have 
given the poor people here in France and those 
in Belgium, not to say anything about the de- 
struction by the Austrians in Upper Italy.” 

“ I wonder what is going to happen to Russia, 
now that she is out of the war and in a state of 
revolution? ” remarked Ben. 

“ That’s a question that nobody can answer 
just now,” returned Dave. “ It looks to me as if 
the different Russian political parties had each 
other by the throat and nobody wanted to let 
go.” 

“ It certainly must be a dreadful country to 
live in just now,” said Roger, with a shake of his 
head. “ Neither a person nor his property is 
safe.” 

The engineers were hard at work cutting 
down several small trees which were in the way. 


THE PERILS OF ROAD BUILDING 8i 


and in hauling some loose stones forward for 
the temporary roadway, when the bombardment 
from the Germans, which had lessened during the 
last half-hour, commenced all over again. Shells 
came whistling and whining over the forest, and 
in the midst of this came a telephone communica- 
tion from the right of the fighting front that the 
Germans were preparing to launch another gas 
attack. 

“ I don’t think the attack will reach as far as 
this, however,” said Captain Obray. “ The 
wind is blowing in the opposite direction. How- 
ever, we’ll be on our guard, and as soon as the 
signal is given I want every man to put on his 
mask instantly.” 

Dave was just getting ready to tell his men 
they might quit their labors for the day when 
there came the whining of two shells through the 
air. Both fell just a trifle short of the roadway 
the engineers were building. Bang I Bang! went 
the missiles of death, one report close upon the 
other. Then arose a great mass of rocks and 
dirt, followed by flying sticks of wood and thin 
brush, the latter blown in all directions. 

Dave and his men were working close to the 
high rocks on the other side of the roadway. As 
the shells fell they threw themselves flat, and 
most of the flying debris went over them. Then, 


82 DAVE PORTER’S WAR HONORS 


following the explosions, came several crashes in 
the forest, and three large trees were seen to be 
falling across the roadway. 

“ Get close to the rocks, everybody ! ’’ yelled 
Dave, as he caught a quick glance of what was 
coming. “ Look out for the falling trees! ” 

The words had scarcely left his lips when the 
first of the big trees came down, the top hitting 
some of the rocks over the engineers’ heads and 
sending them in various directions. Then, one 
after another, the other trees followed, until the 
engineers found themselves completely buried un- 
der a mass of trunks and branches. 

Dave had tried to get on his hands and knees 
to crawl closer to the high rocks, but as he did 
this a branch of one of the trees came down 
across his back, sending him flat again. Then 
another tree fell on top of the first, and he found 
himself held down so tightly that he could 
scarcely breathe. Roger was on one side of him, 
and he, too, was held so fast he could hardly 
move. There were many cries of pain and yells 
for help; and in the midst of the excitement there 
came a shrill whistle from a distance to notify the 
engineers that the German gas attack was on the 
way! 


CHAPTER IX 


IN THE THICK OF THE FIGHT 

“Help! Help! Pm being smothered ! ” 

“ Somebody take this tree off my legs ! ” 

“ Some smash-up, wasn’t it? I wonder if 
anybody was killed? ” 

These and other cries came from all directions. 
Some of the exclamations were considerably smoth- 
ered because those uttering them were buried al- 
most out of sight by the trees and other debris 
that had come down on top of them. 

“ I say, Dave, are you hurt? ” cried Phil. He 
was a few feet away from our hero, and fortu- 
nately he was free to move about, even though his 
face had been scratched by a branch which had 
come down close to his head. 

“I — I don’t know if I am hu — hurt or not,” 
gasped the young sergeant. “I ca — can’t 
move ! ” 

“ And I’m in the same pickle, with this tree 
holding down my legs,” returned Roger. 

It was at this instant that the shrill whistle 
came from a distance — a whistle all the fighting 
engineers knew only too well. 

83 


84 DAVE PORTER’S WAR HONORS 

“ A gas attack! A gas attack! ” was the cry 
which rent the air. “ On with your masks, 
boys ! ” 

Dave heard the cry, and immediately tried to 
make a move to get hold of his mask and adjust 
it. But the tree branch held him down in such 
a fashion that this was impossible. Roger was 
more fortunate, and even though his legs were 
held down he managed to twist his body over on* 
one side and get his mask into position. 

“Can you make it, Dave?” questioned Phil, 
who now had his mask ready to slip on. 

“ No. I can’t straighten up enough,” an- 
swered our hero. 

“ I’ll see if I can’t get the limb out of the 
way,” went on Phil; and then called to Ben and 
Shadow, who, fortunately, were as free as him- 
self to move about, to assist him. 

The three slipped on their masks, and then un- 
der the directions of Phil went to work to raise 
the branch that was holding Dave down. By 
their united efforts they managed to get it up just 
enough to enable our hero to crawl from under. 
As soon as this was accomplished Dave lost no 
time in putting on his mask. 

Even with the united efforts of the four young 
engineers, it was impossible to raise the limb 
which held down Roger’s legs. So two axes 
were brought forward, and while some held up 


IN THE THICK OF THE FIGHT 85 

the limb so that it might not injure the fallen 
one’s legs, Dave and Phil chopped the branch al- 
most through, so that it was then cast aside with 
ease and the senator’s son was able to stand up. 

By this time all the other engineers had gotten 
word concerning the mishap and were flocking 
to that vicinity to aid their comrades. Three 
men were still under the wreckage, and it was 
not without great difficulty that these were re- 
leased. One poor fellow had his shoulder badly 
bruised and had to be sent to the hospital. 

Shadow had one hand much scratched, and both 
of his shins scraped, and he, too, had to be sent to 
the rear to receive medical attention. 

Long before the rescues came to an end 
the gas was on the engineers. It rolled toward 
them in a thin yellowish cloud. But fortunately 
the wind was coming up strongly, and this soon 
dissipated the gas so that it did little damage. 

“ I think we came out of that disaster remark- 
ably well,” was Captain Obray’s comment, after 
he had made a survey of the damage wrought by 
the two German shells. 

“ It’s a wonder to me that all of you weren’t 
killed,” remarked Frank Andrews. “ Just look 
at the holes those two shells made behind where 
the trees stood.” 

So far Dave had been so interested in what 
had occurred to himself and his companions that 


86 


DAVE PORTER’S WAR HONORS 


he had not looked at the spot. Now he walked 
to that vicinity, and his eyes opened widely when 
he beheld the two shell craters. One was all of 
twenty feet in diameter and probably fifteen feet 
deep in the center, while the other crater, through 
some freak of nature, was shaped like a trench, 
ten feet wide and about as deep and nearly three 
times as long. 

“ Those must have been some of the largest of 
the Hun shells,” was Phil’s opinion. “ Gee ! 
when those holes fill with water there will be a 
regular pond here.” 

“ The Heinies couldn’t have made a neater 
job of it, try their best, if they were aiming to 
block this roadway,” said Ben. “ It’s going to 
be a job to clear the way again.” 

“ That isn’t the worst of it, Ben,” returned 
Dave. “ Now that they have got our range they 
may be sending more shells this way.” 

It was fortunate that the shock of the explosions 
had come just as the day’s work was drawing to 
a close. After so much excitement nobody felt 
like going to work again, and the young engi- 
neers were glad enough to seek their shelter, there 
to care for their hurts and to rest until supper 
was announced. 

It must be admitted that some of the engineers 
were a trifle nervous when operations were re- 
sumed the following morning. But the bom- 


IN THE THICK OF THE FIGHT 87 

bardment on both sides had ceased, and every- 
thing throughout the forest was as quiet as it had 
formerly been. The work of clearing the road- 
way was started without delay, and this having 
been completed, the gang under Dave was sent 
forward for a full quarter of a mile. Here there 
was a small ravine, and the engineers were in- 
structed to bridge it in a rough but substantial 
manner, so that some field artillery would be able 
to cross without danger. 

“ This is what I call bridge-building with a 
vengeance,” remarked Ben, when the task was in 
progress. “ I wonder what the folks at home 
would say if we threw such a structure as this 
across Dixon’s gully or the brook back of Hen- 
derson’s apple orchard? ” 

“ Well, they’d have to give us credit for build- 
ing something substantial if not ornamental, 
Ben,” answered Dave, with a grin. “ When we 
get through with it, a herd of elephants could use 
it without fear of a collapse.” 

“ And just think of building it in two days I ” 
exclaimed Phil. “ Why, ordinarily it would 
take local bridge-builders two or three weeks to 
put up such a thing as this.” 

“ Certainly, in war, speed is what counts,” an- 
swered our hero. 

At the time appointed a road through the for- 
est, with three bridges spanning as many gullies, 


88 


DAVE PORTER’S WAR HONORS 


was completed. And then one night, following 
a heavy bombardment and a barrage fire, the 
American forces moved forward. 

This brought on a battle which lasted the best 
part of a day and a half. There were attacks 
and counter-attacks, and the din of the light and 
heavy field-pieces was terrific. The Germans did 
everything possible to shove the Americans and 
the French back, but in the end had to give way, 
and when the battle finally subsided the Allied 
forces had made an advance of from four to six 
miles on a front twenty-two miles long, and cap- 
tured three villages. 

“ How is that for fighting? ” cried Dave en- 
thusiastically, when the news of the advance was 
confirmed. “ We’ll show them yet what it means 
to bring Uncle Sam into this war.” 

“ That’s what we will! ” returned Roger. 

“ If only we could rush them right along to 
the Rhine 1 ” came from Phil. 

It must not be supposed that the engineers were 
idle while this great battle was going on. They 
were called upon to repair two of the bridges, 
both of which were partly demolished by German 
shell fire, and then they were sent to the front 
once more to lay out a new line of trenches. 
This was perilous work in the extreme. 

“ We’re going under fire again, men,” an- 


IN THE THICK OF THE FIGHT 89 

nounced Captain Obray, when the command 
came to go to the front. 

This meant that each engineer must carry his 
rifle as well as the entrenching tools assigned to 
him. Along with the load 'on his back this was 
a weight of eighty to ninety pounds per man, cer- 
tainly something of a load to carry over rough 
roads and through a tangle of underbrush and 
loose and jagged rocks. More than one man 
grew exhausted, and had to either rest up or be 
carried to the rear. 

“ Here is where sheer bone and muscle count,” 
was Dave’s comment, as he ploughed forward 
through some underbrush with the detail under 
him. It was a warm summer day, and all the en- 
gineers were perspiring freely. 

“ I wish we had had this to do last winter when 
it was colder,” remarked Ben. 

“ Oh, for some ice cream soda ! ” sighed 
Roger. 

“ Say, that puts me in mind of a story,” cried 
Shadow. “ A small boy came to his mother in 
the winter time with a big idea. He had six 
snowballs in his arms, and brought them right 
into the house. ‘ What are you going to do with 
those snowballs, Bobby?’ asked his mother. ‘I 
want you to put ’em away in your closet where 
you keep the jam,’ answered the small boy. 


90 


DAVE PORTER’S WAR HONORS 


^What do you want to do that for?’ ‘Oh,’ 
said the small boy, ‘ I want you to keep ’em until 
next summer for me, and then when I can’t have' 
any ice cream I’ll go and get a snowball.’ ” 
And at this joke there was a slight smile. 

“ There is only one good thing about that 
joke. Shadow,” remarked Dave. “ It makes a 
fellow think of winter, and believe me it’s a good 
thing to think of ice and snow when the thermom- 
eter is up in the nineties as it is today.” 

Presently came the command to halt, and then 
the young engineers were instructed to crawl for- 
ward with caution to a line already mapped out 
by Frank Andrews and several of the experienced 
linemen under him. As soon as the line was 
gained the engineers must lose no time in digging 
themselves in, so that no stray bullets from the 
German trenches might catch them. 

Dave had been in such a position before, so 
there was nothing in the way of novelty about it. 
He well knew the peril of the work, and he cau- 
tioned all under him to be careful in exposing 
themselves. 

“ Those Germans are as mad as hornets for 
being driven back,” he remarked; “and they 
would more than glory in it to lay out some of 
our fellows. And remember, while you are 
working I want all of you to have your guns 
handy, so that if they show themselves or try 


IN THE THICK OF THE FIGHT 91 

to reach us we can give a good account of our- 
selves.’’ 

“ I’d just like a little fighting,” rejoined Roger. 

The wish of the senator’s son was gratified 
sooner than any of them expected. They had 
reached the line and were busy digging them- 
selves into temporary quarters, when, with no 
warning whatever, came a volley of shots from 
a patch of woods some distance ahead. 

At the time the volley was delivered the last 
gang of the engineers, led by a Lieutenant 
Harney, was coming up. The lieutenant was in 
the lead, and as the volley rang out he was seen 
to throw up his hands and pitch headlong. The 
others of the detail dropped down in the grass, 
one wounded in the shoulder and another in the 
side. The lieutenant had been struck squarely 
in the forehead, and was no doubt instantly 
killed. 

‘‘ They are coming this way I The Heinies 
are coming this way! ” 

The report proved true. Encouraged by the 
success of their first volley, a company of Ger- 
man soldiers came crawling forward through the 
thick brushwood, sending volley after volley in 
the direction of the engineers. 

“We’ve got to fight them, boys!” shouted 
Captain Obray. “ Make every shot tell ! ” 

He had hardly spoken two words before sev- 


92 


DAVE PORTER’S WAR HONORS 


eral of the engineers began to use their guns. 
Then the others caught up their weapons, and a 
scattering of shots could be heard all along the 
line of the proposed new trench. 

The first company of Germans was quickly fol- 
lowed by a second, and then a third, aggregating 
probably four hundred and fifty men. The en- 
gineers numbered about three hundred and sixty, 
a considerable number being missing from the 
battalion because of wounds, sickness, and vari- 
ous other reasons. 

It was an unequal contest, but the blood of the 
fighting engineers was up, especially when they 
saw the death of Lieutenant Harney, who was 
popular in the command. 

Rapid orders came from the major of the bat- 
talion, and Captain Obray told those under him 
to move somewhat to the left, where a slight 
rise of ground afforded a little better shelter. In 
the meantime, word was sent back by the signal 
corps operating in that vicinity that the Germans 
were making an attack on the engineers, and ask- 
ing for reinforcements. 

In another five minutes the contest was on in 
all its intensity. Volley after volley came from 
the Germans, who were attempting to advance 
by crawling from rock to rock and from bush to 
bush. But the fighting engineers sent over bullet 


IN THE THICK OF THE FIGHT 93 

for bullet and had the satisfaction of seeing more 
than one of the enemy drop to rise no more. 

“Gee! this is the hottest fight yet!” gasped 
Phil, after the firing had continued for ten or 
fifteen minutes. 

“If we only had a machine-gun handy we 
might do something,” answered Dave. 

It was now seen that several additional Ger- 
man companies were rushing to the scene of the 
conflict. Evidently the enemy was massing with 
the idea of breaking through on that part of the 
front. 

“ If we can only hold out until we get rein- 
forcements ! ” said Dave. 

“We’ve got to hold our ground, boys!” 
shouted Captain Obray. “ Don’t give in an 
inch ! We’ll have help here before long ! Make 
every shot count! Show those Huns what you 
are made of! ” 

A cheer went up at these words — a cheer 
which was almost drowned out by a volley of 
shots from the German company which had just 
come up on the double-quick. Then a great yell 
arose from the enemy line, and a few minutes 
later they leaped up and, firing as they ran, made 
straight for the American engineers. 


CHAPTER X 


DAVE SHOWS HIS BRAVERY 

My young readers must understand that it 
would be next to impossible to give all the details 
of the battle which occurred when the fighting en- 
gineers were attacked first by a battalion of the 
Germans and then by a full regiment. 

By the command of the major the engineering 
battalion gradually withdrew to the protection 
of a number of jagged rocks, flanked here and 
there by thick brushwood. Here, screening 
themselves as much as possible, the Americans 
poured forth volley after volley at the Germans, 
and over a score of them went down, some never 
to rise again. 

But the enemy had probably received word 
from their air scouts as to the exact number of 
the engineers, and with the first battalion aug- 
mented by the remainder of their regiment, they 
showed increased courage and recklessness, and 
suddenly made a charge forward, shouting like 
demons as they came on. 

It was certainly a thrilling moment and enough 
to make the heart of any soldier quail, however 
94 


DAVE SHOWS HIS BRAVERY 


95 


brave. Even the most unthinking of the engi- 
neers could see that they were largely outnum- 
bered, for the German regiment counted up to at 
least sixteen hundred men. 

Dave, Roger, Phil, and Ben kept close to- 
gether. Shadow was not in this contest, having 
not yet returned from the field hospital to which 
he had been sent after the accident when the big 
trees had come down. 

When the call had been sent to the rear asking 
for reinforcements, word had also been sent up 
to the top of the little hill behind them asking 
if the battery there could not open on the ad- 
vancing Germans. This battery now sent forth 
a lively fire; but it soon had to cease because the 
Germans were now so close to the Americans 
that firing on them would endanger our engineers. 

“ Give it to ’em hot, boys, but don’t expose 
yourselves until you have to ! ” called Captain 
Obray, and the remaining lieutenant repeated 
these words and then they were also repeated by 
the top sergeant, who had already taken poor 
Lieutenant Harney’s place. 

Dave, partly screened by a rock and a bit of 
brushwood, was handling his rifle as accurately 
and rapidly as he could. In the beginning, as 
was to be expected, he had been excited and his 
hand had trembled a little. But now his nerves 
were steadying themselves, and he took deliber- 


96 DAVE PORTER’S WAR HONORS 

ate aim at one of the Huns before he pulled the 
trigger. He saw the man go down, and then 
he immediately shot at a second and a third of 
the enemy. 

Facing such a determined resistance, the Ger- 
mans paused for a moment while still half-way to 
the line which separated them from the engineers. 
This pause worked great havoc, for it gave all 
the Americans a chance to continue their fire, 
which they did with deadly effect. But then, 
urged most strenuously by their officers, who in 
some cases did not hesitate to slap their men with 
their swords, the Germans came on once more, 
firing several more volleys and then dashing in 
with their bayonets. At such close quarters it 
became practically impossible to continue the con- 
test with any degree of regularity. It was a 
case of every engineer for himself, and at odds 
of three or four to one. 

The first fellow to come at Dave was a tall, 
burly individual who looked as if he might be a 
farmhand. He made a vicious jab at our hero, 
who sprang aside with a nimbleness acquired by 
long practice in the gymnasium and on the foot- 
ball field at Oak Hall. Then Dave made a 
lunge with his own bayonet, and had the satisfac- 
tion of catching the fellow in the thigh. The 
German pulled back and made another lunge, but 
this time Dave parried the stroke, and then 


DAVE SHOWS HIS BRAVERY 


97 


caught the fellow through the shoulder. This 
caused the German to stagger back, and suddenly 
he dropped his gun and fell headlong on his side. 

While this was going on, Roger and the other 
engineers were likewise having their hands full. 
Seven or eight Germans had appeared in a bunch 
and were jabbing right and left with their bay- 
onets, yelling at the top of their lungs and mak- 
ing the most ferocious faces. One caught Phil 
through the arm, and another sent Roger to his 
knees. 

This was a perilous position for the senator’s 
son, because before he could rise two of the Ger- 
mans were on him, each with an upraised bayonet. 
But now Ben leaped in on one side, catching one 
of the Germans under the chin with his cold 
steel. Not wishing to have his throat pierced, 
the fellow jerked backward, pitching heavily over 
the rocks. 

But the other German had already made an- 
other pass at Roger, and that young engineer 
would have caught it in the heart had he not 
made a quick movement to one side. Then the 
German, having missed his footing, fell forward 
and as he did so caught the senator’s son by the 
throat. 

But now Dave was coming on. Why he had 
done so, he did not know, but he had turned his 
gun around in his hands so that the butt was in 


98 DAVE PORTER’S WAR HONORS 

front of him. Using this with all force, he 
made a long leap forward, bringing the gun butt 
down directly on the head of the German. 
There was a curious little crack, and the man fell 
away to one side, unconscious, if not entirely done 
for. 

After that matters became so exciting that the 
young engineers hardly knew what was taking 
place. Sometimes they used their bayonets, and 
again they swung their rifles around like clubs, 
sweeping the air in front of them in wide semi- 
circles. Occasionally a shot was fired, and Ben 
declared afterwards that he saw one German 
shoot another. 

With one of his most trustworthy officers gone. 
Captain Obray had his hands full doing what 
he could for his command. The engineers had 
already commenced to fall back on the roadway 
which they had recently been building, but orders 
were to retreat slowly, because reinforcements 
would be coming up now in a short while. 

Dave had lost his helmet, his shirt was ripped 
up his back in several places, and blood was 
streaming from a cut on one hand, and a bruise 
was on his cheek. Not until some time later did 
he realize that the cut on his hand had come from 
a glancing bullet. 

The engineers had fallen back about fifty yards 
when Dave found himself and those under him 


DAVE SHOWS HIS BRAVERY 


99 


close to where Captain Obray was himself fight- 
ing. The old civil engineer had discharged his 
pistol pointblank at one of the Germans, but now 
three had surrounded him, two using their bay- 
onets and the other handling his gun as a club. 
The captain was struck on one shoulder, and his 
pistol was sent whizzing from his hand. Then 
the two Germans with their bayonets stabbed at 
the American officer viciously several times. 

When the pistol was sent flying from the cap- 
tain’s hand it landed almost at Dave’s feet. He 
was about six yards away, and without stopping 
to think twice he caught up the weapon, aimed it 
at the nearest of the Germans, and fired. 

As my old readers know, Dave was quite an 
accurate shot, not only with a rifle, but also with 
a pistol, and on more than one occasion he had 
made a rather remarkable record while firing at 
a target. His quick aim was accurate, and the 
German nearest to him went down, shot through 
the side. Then Dave fired the second time, and 
the other German was hit in the right arm. The 
fellow was just in the act of making another lunge 
with his bayonet, this time at Captain Obray’s 
throat; but the shot in the arm caused him to let 
his weapon drop. Then, of a sudden, he sank 
down, for he had already been wounded in the leg 
and had been keeping up merely through excite- 
ment. The third German was running away. 


100 DAVE PORTER’S WAR HONORS 

“ Fine work, Porter, fine work! ” gasped Cap- 
tain Obray, as Dave sprang to his side and re- 
turned the officer’s pistol to him. 

“Are you much hurt? Do you want me to 
help you to the rear, Captain? ” demanded the 
young sergeant quickly. 

“ No, I don’t think I want to go to the rear,” 
was the answer, in a voice that shook with emo- 
tion. “ Porter, I sha’n’t forget this. It was 
splendid! ” And then the captain turned away, 
for there was much for him to do. 

Only a few minutes later Dave found himself 
again in the thick of the fight. But now a cheer 
rent the air, and it became known that a regi- 
ment of American infantry and several machine- 
guns were on their way to relieve the engineers, 
who, of course, were not supposed to do any reg- 
ular fighting. 

“ Oh, if we can only hold out until they 
come ! ” muttered Dave. He was beginning to 
feel the strain and could hardly keep on his feet. 

The engineers were now ordered to withdraw 
to one side of the road in order to give the in- 
fantry and the machine-guns a chance to come up. 
Of course the machine-guns could not be used on 
the Germans while they were mixed up with the 
Americans, but it was thought they could be 
brought into play in case the enemy did any mass- 
ing or started to retreat. 


DAVE SHOWS HIS BRAVERY loi 

“ Hurrah, here they come ! ” 

“ Now those Huns will get what is coming to 
them ! ” 

“ Rush ’em all the way back to the Rhine ! ” 

A company of American infantry was coming 
down the rough forest road on the double-quick. 
A short distance behind were two other compan- 
ies, and then followed a machine-gun detachment. 

“ Our other men are coming up from the 
other side of the hill,” announced the American 
officer, who was in command of the newly-arrived 
troops. “ They’ll be here inside of five minutes, 
I believe.” 

At first the Germans were rather discomfited 
when they saw the American infantry coming up. 
But seeing only the three companies and the sin- 
gle machine-gun detachment, they plucked up 
courage again and went at the fight almost as 
vigorously as before. 

The infantry leaped into the fray with all the 
speed at their command, and then the contest be- 
came more bloody every instant. In one place 
among some rocks at least fifteen men from each 
side fought in such a close space that it was 
almost impossible for any of the soldiers to get 
elbow room. Several of the men grabbed each 
other by the throat, and two of the wounded 
were all but trampled to death in the melee. 

Phil and Roger had both sustained several 


102 DAVE PORTER’S WAR HONORS 


small wounds, but they still kept on fighting, in 
spite of the loss of blood which was steadily mak- 
ing them weaker. 

At last the other American troops which were 
expected around the lower side of the little hill 
burst into view. With them came another ma- 
chine-gun detachment and also a company which 
was well supplied with hand grenades. These 
grenades they used upon the Germans whenever 
they saw an opportunity to do so without injuring 
any of their own men. 

With a force against them now equal, if not 
superior, to their own, the Germans began to 
waver, and one company began to fall back, in 
spite of the protestations of some of their officers. 
Then, as all the Americans made a rush, the re- 
mainder of the enemy commenced to retreat. 

“ Hurrah, weVe got ’em on the run! ” 

“ Give it to them good and plenty, boys ! ” 

“ What’s the matter with rounding them up 
and making them prisoners?” 

“That’s the talk! Let us teach ’em a lesson 
they won’t forget ! ” 

So the cries ran on, and while the majority of 
the Germans managed to get away from the vi- 
cinity of the Americans, a half-company became 
detached from the others, and these were quickly 
surrounded. 

“ Throw up your hands ! ” cried one of the 


DAVE SHOWS HIS BRAVERY 103 

American officers, and he repeated the words in 
German. 

A number of the hands went up, and some of 
the Germans, realizing that they were out of the 
fighting, began to shout, Kamerad! Kamerad! 
Two, however, of the crowd were ugly, one a 
middle-aged soldier and the other a rather young- 
looking officer. These two very foolishly raised 
their weapons and began shooting, the soldier 
with his gun and the young officer with his pistol. 
Both of the weapons were discharged twice when 
the officer and the private were laid low by bul- 
lets of the Americans. Then the others surren- 
dered without further question. 

Dave was close at hand when the capture was 
made of the German soldiers. He heard the 
discharge of the pistol and the gun in the hands 
of the officer and the private and felt a strange 
pain shoot through his body. Then a sudden 
faintness seemed to overtake him, and he fell to 
the ground senseless. 


CHAPTER XI 


IN THE HOSPITAL 

“ Well, how are you feeling this morning, 
Dave? ” 

“ A great deal better than I did yesterday, 
Roger. I think, if all goes well. I’ll be up on my 
feet by to-morrow.” 

“ You’ve got to go slow, so the nurse tells 
me. That wound was rather a serious one, even 
though it was clean-cut.” 

“ I suppose I can be thankful that it didn’t go 
through my lungs instead of my side,” went on 
Dave, with an attempt at a smile. “ How are 
you feeling, Roger? ” 

“ Oh, I’m all right again.” 

“And how is Phil?” 

“ Here he comes to speak for himself,” an- 
swered the young corporal. 

About two weeks had elapsed since that mem- 
orable day when Dave and the other fighting en- 
gineers had made such a record of bravery for 
themselves. Through them the new road 
through the forest had been held, and now the 
American line in that direction had been ad- 


104 


IN THE HOSPITAL 


105 


vanced from eight to ten miles. The Germans 
in that vicinity were gradually being shoved into 
a pocket, and the Allies felt certain that sooner 
or later they would break away and begin a gen- 
eral retreat. 

As Dave intimated, the bullet which had pros- 
trated him had passed through his side not a 
great distance from his right lung. It had been 
a clean-cut flesh wound, however, and no compli- 
cations had followed. 

At first Dave had been taken to a temporary 
field hospital, but twenty-four hours later he had 
been placed in one of the big ambulances along 
with a number of others and rushed to a base 
hospital some distance back from the lines, and it 
was at this place he now rested. He had been 
given the best of medical attention, and a Red 
Cross nurse saw to it that he had every comfort. 

During those days in the hospital our hero had 
been visited twice by Captain Obray, who himself 
had been slightly wounded in the fray. The cap- 
tain was very grateful to Dave for what he had 
done, insisting that our hero had saved his life. 

“ I shall never forget this. Porter, never ! ” 
the captain had said, in a voice filled with emo- 
tion. “ And I want everybody to know it — 
even your folks at home.” 

Many of the engineers had been cited for 
special bravery, and at the top of the list was 


io6 DAVE PORTER’S WAR HONORS 


Dave’s name, for which, of course, he was par- 
donably proud. He had likewise been recom- 
mended for promotion. 

“ I understand they are going to offer you a 
lieutenancy, Dave,” remarked Phil, after he had 
come up and greeted his chum. 

“A lieutenancy!” exclaimed Dave, his eyes 
lighting up with expectancy. 

“ That’s the talk around camp. And I don’t 
know that anybody in our company deserves it 
more than you do.” 

‘‘Phil is right!” added Roger. “And may- 
be it will come pretty quick, too, Dave. Some- 
body has got to fill poor Harney’s place.” 

“ I think you fellows ought to be promoted 
yourselves.” 

“ There has been a little talk of making us ser- 
geants,” answered Roger. “ Of course, we 
won’t complain if they insist on shoving us up,” 
and he grinned. Even though he was the son 
of a United States senator who had made a 
great record for himself at Washington, Roger 
was as modest as any engineer in the corps. 

During the days spent in the base hospital our 
hero had received several letters from home, all 
of which had given him more or less satisfaction. 
First had come a communication from his father, 
giving him many particulars of how matters were 
going both in business and at home, and stating 


IN THE HOSPITAL 


107 

that he and Dave’s Uncle Dunston were once 
more active in Liberty Loan work and that Mr. 
Wadsworth had doubled his previous subscrip- 
tion to the loan. 

Then had come a brief communication from 
his sister Laura, stating that she had heard he 
was wounded, but was glad to know that it was 
not serious. She added that she was writing a 
longer letter to Roger and that Jessie was also 
sending him a communication which would prob- 
ably tell him all the things he cared most to know. 
She added that old Professor Potts had recov- 
ered somewhat from his recent indisposition and 
was again around, spending, as before, most of 
his time in the Wadsworth library, poring over his 
precious volumes. 

And then two days later had come the long- 
looked-for letter from Jessie. Still weak from 
his wounds, Dave’s hands had trembled not a 
little when he tore this communication open to 
peruse it. 

The heart of the girl whom the young engineer 
adored was in that letter, and Dave read it over 
many times. In it Jessie spoke of the shock she 
had received when the casualty lists in the daily 
newspapers had contained the information that 
Dave had been wounded. Then she told how a 
cablegram from Roger had been received, stat- 
ing that it was not serious. 


io8 DAVE PORTER’S WAR HONORS 


“ You cannot imagine, dear Dave, how much 
relieved we were to receive that cablegram,” 
Jessie continued. “ We had not slept at all dur- 
ing the night. It was dreadful to think that you 
had been shot down by those awful Germans. 
Oh, Dave, when you get around again do be care- 
ful ! If anything happened to you I do not know 
what I would do. I don’t think I would care to 
live any longer.” 

“ Dear, dear Jessie ! ” murmured Dave, as he 
read this paragraph several times. “ The best 
girl that ever lived! ” 

Jessie then went on to relate about how she 
had missed some letters from Dave which had 
since arrived in a bunch, and she added that she 
herself had forwarded several letters to him 
which for some reason he could not have re- 
ceived. 

“ After this I am going to number the letters,” 
she added; “ so you will know exactly what is 
missing, if any. 

“ Of course you have seen Laura’s letters to 
Roger, so you know all about the success of our 
entertainments here for the local charities. Al- 
though it called for a good deal of hard work, 
there was not a little fun attached to it, too, and I 
am sure we all enjoyed it. There was only one 
cloud for me, Dave; and now that it has passed I 
hardly think it is worth mentioning. Still, as 
some day or other you may meet Lieutenant Ge- 
bauer, or possibly Nat Poole, who knows of what 


IN THE HOSPITAL 


109 


occurred, perhaps it would be best for me to let 
you know just how things stand. 

“ Lieutenant Gebauer, as you are aware, is con- 
nected with the Gebauer jewelry concern of Phila- 
delphia, and he and Papa transact quite a good 
deal of business. He often visits Crumville, and 
when Papa heard he had joined the army and got 
a commission, he was so pleased that he asked 
Gebauer to our house. 

“ From that time on the lieutenant — for what 
reason I know not, because 1 gave him no encour- 
agement — became very attentive to me. He, of 
course, knew how matters stood between you and 
me, but that seemed to have no effect on him. He 
insisted upon pressing his attentions on me, until 
I was forced to give him the cold shoulder. 
Through Papa he gave me a very handsome Red 
Cross pin, one which their concern has something 
to do with manufacturing. But I am not going 
to wear it. I have a pin which I purchased my- 
self. He was quite put out when I finally 
dropped him, and went off in anything but a good 
humor. 

“ During his stay here in Crumville in some man- 
ner or other he became acquainted with the Pooles; 
and when Nat was home on leave of absence from 
the training camp the two became quite chummy. 
Both of them are now in France, and it is pos- 
sible that you may meet them, and for that rea- 
son, as I said before, I think you ought to know 
how matters stand. Lieutenant Gebauer may try 
to make you believe that we are very friendly, 
but it is not true. I simply tolerated him because 
I didn’t wish to do anything which might interfere 


no DAVE PORTER’S WAR HONORS 


with Papa’s business connections with the Phila- 
delphia concern.” 

There was more of this, Jessie going into some 
of the details of what had taken place between 
her and the lieutenant during the entertainments 
and for a week or two following. She did not 
say outright, but Dave could read between the 
lines, and he felt certain that Max Gebauer had 
in the end made himself quite obnoxious, even 
though outwardly he had acted the part of a gen- 
tleman. 

“ He must be a regular pill,” was Dave’s 
mental comment, as he put the letter away. “ If 
he’s that sort, he’d better not come around where 
I am. He certainly can’t amount to much if he 
trains with such a chap as Nat Poole.” 

Dave was quite curious to know whether Lieu- 
tenant Gebauer and Nat Poole had really come 
over to France. But there was no way of finding 
out. He questioned a number with whom he 
came in contact, who had been at various Amer- 
ican camps throughout France, but not one could 
give him a word concerning the pair. 

During those days came another cause for 
gratitude. Buster Beggs had recovered from 
the gas attack which had laid him low, and had 
once more joined the engineers at the front. 
His eyes were a trifle weak as yet, and he had to 
be careful of what he ate for fear of getting sick 


IN THE HOSPITAL 


III 


at the stomach, but otherwise he was as well as 
ever. Shadow was also around again. 

It was a great day for Dave when he was al- 
lowed to get up and put on his clothes once more 
and go out into the sunshine. He felt quite 
shaky, and he was glad enough to rest after walk- 
ing but a short distance. The base hospital had 
once been a chateau, and in the garden was a 
beautiful fountain surrounded by flowers, and 
here the convalescent soldiers gathered on 
benches to regain their health and to talk over 
the war. 

“ I think the war will end in another three or 
four months,” said one of the convalescents. 

“ That’s right; they must be pretty close to the 
end of their resources,” put in another. 

“ Don’t you believe that. Jack,” came from 
a third. “ They must have been close to the end 
of their resources before, but now you must re- 
member they are plundering the Russians of ev- 
erything of use in that country. They’ll be 
able to get immense quantities of food and war 
material that were meant for the Russian army, 
and that will keep them going for a long while.” 

“ The collapse of Russia will undoubtedly 
help the Germans to continue the conflict,” said 
Dave. “ But I believe that sooner or later 
they’ll have to give in. They must know that 
they cannot stand against all of us combined.” 


1 12 DAVE PORTER’S WAR HONORS 


“ I’ll tell you where we have got them,” said 
another of the convalescents, a marine who had 
seen some fierce fighting ever since the Ameri- 
cans had entered the contest. “ The Heinies can 
fight well enough while they are in a bunch, but 
as soon as you separate them they become next 
to helpless. Their individual soldiers don’t seem 
to have any initiative. Now with our men it’s 
just the opposite. They’ll fight well enough to- 
gether, but let them get separated, and each man 
is on his mettle to do the very best he knows how. 
and make a record for himself.” 

“ You are right there,” replied Dave. “ And 
that puts me in mind of a story I heard only yes- 
terday. A Western cowboy, who knew all 
about rounding up cattle but very little about 
army life, was in one of the advances and all at 
once became separated from the rest of his com- 
mand. He wandered around until he came to 
a trench, and then found a dugout containing 
some German soldiers. 

“ Now it seems this cowboy had been on 
kitchen duty for his company some days before, 
and as he didn’t like peeling potatoes and doing 
stunts like that he was very much out of humor. 
He pointed his gun at the dugout and yelled to 
the Germans to come out. One of them held 
up his hands and managed to ask in broken Eng- 
lish what was wanted. 


IN THE HOSPITAL 


113 

“ ‘ You come out of that or I’ll fire this hand- 
grenade at you ! ’ yelled the cowboy, and flour- 
ished something in his hand. 

“ The Germans became very much frightened, 
and one after another came out of the dugout 
and lined up, hands in the air. There were five 
of them, and the cowboy motioned to them to 
march with their hands up in the direction of 
the American line. Once or twice the Germans 
balked, but every time they did this the cowboy 
made a swing with his hand as if to throw a 
grenade at them. 

“ Finally they got near the American lines and 
some other soldiers came out to see what was 
doing. 

“ ‘ I’ve got five of the Heinies here,’ an- 
nounced the cowboy calmly. ‘ And it only took 
this baked potato to bring ’em in,’ and then he 
showed the supposed hand-grenade, which was 
only a common potato which he had kept as a 
memento of his hours in the camp kitchen.” 

“ Some potato! ” cried one of the listeners. 

“ That was sure a raw deal,” said another 
laughing. 

“ No raw deal at all — the potato was baked,” 
answered Dave, with a grin, and at this there 
was another laugh. 

A few days later Dave was getting ready to 
leave the hospital. Once on his feet, his 


1 14 DAVE PORTER’S WAR HONORS 

strength had returned rapidly, and he now in- 
sisted that he be allowed to return to his com- 
mand. 

“ You are certainly a plucky soldier,” re- 
marked the Red Cross nurse who had been tak- 
ing care of him. “ Not many of the boys are 
as anxious to leave as you are.” 

Dave was sitting on a bench waiting for the 
lorry which was to take him and a number of oth- 
ers back to the front, when an ambulance came 
up with some wounded. Three were on stretch- 
ers, but others were able to get out themselves 
and walk into the hospital. 

“ Dave Porter ! ” 

The cry came from one of the soldiers who 
had descended from the ambulance, a fellow in 
the regulation khaki and with his left hand done 
up in a sling. Our hero stared at the new ar- 
rival in amazement. 

It was Nat Poole! 


CHAPTER XII 


WHAT NAT POOLE SAID 

“Why, Nat Poole I what brings you here?” 
exclaimed Dave, as he moved forward to meet 
the young fellow from Crumville. The fact that 
Nat was in uniform and had his left hand done 
up in a sling made our hero for the time being 
forget his antagonism to the slacker who had 
never been a friend. 

“ Oh, I got my wrist sprained — I don’t know 
but that it’s broken,” replied the son of the well- 
known money lender of Crumville. He turned 
anything but a pleasant face to Dave. “ What 
are you doing here ? ” 

“ Oh, I got wounded in one of the little musses 
we had with the Germans.” 

“Wounded? I didn’t know you engineers 
got into any fighting. I thought your job was a 
soft snap well behind the lines,” returned Nat 
Poole. 

“ We have had more or less fighting to do 
ever since we came over,” returned the young 
sergeant. “ Even when we were at the front 
with the Canadians the Germans tried to rush 
115 


ii6 DAVE PORTER’S WAR HONORS 


us two or three times, and blew up one of the 
bridges we were building.” 

“ Was it much of a wound? ” went on Nat 
curiously. 

“ I got a bullet through my side and another 
one grazed the back of my hand ” ; and Dave 
exhibited the scar left by the latter hurt. “ I’ve 
been at the hospital for several weeks. I’m just 
getting ready to leave now.” 

“You don’t say! Where are you going — 
home? ” 

“Home! Not much! I’m going to the 
front again just as fast as I can get there.” 

“ Well, if you were wounded as bad as you 
say they ought to give you a chance to go home 
and rest up,” continued the money lender’s son. 

“ But I don’t want to go home, Nat. I want 
to go to the front and stay there until this war 
is over and we have licked the Heinies out of 
their boots ! ” cried Dave. “ Why, I wouldn’t 
miss the fun for anything! ” 

“ You must be a queer sort, Dave Porter, to 
consider being shot fun,” grumbled Nat. “ I 
guess you weren’t hurt much. Maybe you only 
got a scratch or two and wanted to show off,” 
he added, with a touch of old-time envy in his 
voice. At Oak Hall, Nat Poole had always en- 
vied Dave his popularity and had done every- 
thing in his power to depreciate it. 


WHAT NAT POOLE SAID 


117 


“ Well, all I can tell you about the wound 
in my side is what the doctors and nurses here 
have said,” returned our hero calmly. “ They 
all think I ought to stay in the hospital a little 
longer. They say they never heard of a fellow 
getting up so quickly and starting back for the 
front. But I’m tired of staying here doing noth- 
ing. I want to get with the rest of the bunch 
and see what is going on. 

“ But tell me about yourself, Nat,” continued 
Dave kindly. “ Were you in a fight? ” 

“Yes, I was!” replied the other sourly. 

“What, with the Huns?” questioned Dave 
incredulously. He could not understand how the 
money lender’s son had been able to get to the 
fighting front so quickly. 

“ No, it wasn’t at the front,” growled Nat. 
“ I got into a row with our company cook. He 
served us some chow that wasn’t fit for a dog 
to touch. I laid him out good and proper, and 
he hit me with a frying-pan. He had no right 
to do it, and I reported him.” 

“ And was it the frying-pan that knocked out 
your wrist? ” queried Dave, and now he had all 
he could do to keep from grinning in Nat’s face. 

“ Yes, it was. And it pained awfully at first. 
I used my first-aid kit, but it didn’t seem to 
do any good, and so I asked for permission to 
come up here to the hospital and have the wrist 


ii8 DAVE PORTER’S WAR HONORS 


examined. I want it attended to properly, too! 
I don’t want any two-cent army doctor mussing 
with it. I don’t intend to go through life with 
a stiff wrist, or a crooked one, either. Do you 
suppose they’ve got any really good doctors at 
this place? ” 

“ There are several surgeons here who are 
just as good as you’ll find anywhere, Nat. And 
the nurses and the nursing couldn’t be better. 
Then you came over on your own account? ” 

“ Oh, I got permission, of course.” 

“ Is the camp you are at in this vicinity? ” 

“ It’s about two miles from here. Say, take 
me in and show me where to go. This wrist of 
mine is beginning to hurt again,” went on Nat 
Poole. 

Had it been anybody but the money lender’s 
son, Dave might have felt more sympathy for 
him. But as it was, he knew that when Nat 
was hurt he was inclined to make a mountain 
out of a molehill. 

Though Dave aided as much as he could, the 
money lender’s son had to wait until the more 
serious cases had been disposed of by the surg- 
eons in attendance. Then a rather elderly man, 
the same who had attended Dave, took hold of 
Nat. 

“ I can’t find any bones broken,” said the 
surgeon, after a careful examination. “ The 


WHAT NAT POOLE SAID 


II9 

wrist is bruised a little and probably feels some- 
what lame. We’ll put some liniment on it and 
bind it up well, and I think you will find it as 
well as ever in a day or two.” 

“ Don’t you think I’d better stay at the hos- 
pital for a few days and make sure of it? ” ques- 
tioned Nat, eagerly. 

“What! Stay? Not at all! This place 
is only for those who are more or less se- 
riously wounded. That isn’t a hospital case 
at all. In fact, I can hardly understand why you 
took the trouble to come here to have it attended 
to. Many of the men get hurts much worse 
than that and say nothing about therrt; ” and 
then the surgeon turned his back on Nat to show 
that the interview was at an end. Evidently he 
had met such slackers as the money lender’s 
son before and knew exactly how to handle 
them. 

“ I knew just how it would be,” growled Nat, 
as he walked out, followed by Dave. “ As long 
as there isn’t any extra money in it for them they 
don’t care how they treat a fellow! I know how 
my wrist hurts, even if he doesn’t. I’ll go back 
to camp and take care of it myself. But I am 
not going on duty yet awhile, and I’ll tell the 
top sergeant so. By the way, I see you are a 
sergeant.” 

“ Yes.” 


120 DAVE PORTER’S WAR HONORS 


“ It’s funny how some fellows just tumble into 
luck,” went on Nat, more sourly than ever. “ I 
came pretty near becoming a sergeant myself, 
but a big bruiser of a fellow from up the State 
did me out of it.” 

“ Well, you’ll have a good chance to work your 
way up, Nat, now you are over in France. They 
are promoting fellows every day for duties well 
done and for bravery under fire.” 

“ Humph ! I know all about that. Those 
who are in favor with the fellows higher up get 
all the plums, and the rest of the poor dubs can 
whistle.” 

“ I don’t believe that at all, Nat. I’ve been 
over here now since the middle of last summer, 
and so far as I can see, promotions have been 
only according to merit. Of course, here and 
there a person who doesn’t particularly deserve 
it may get ahead, but that is the exception to the 
rule. Most of the men who have gotten honors 
have well deserved them.” 

“ Humph! you’ll never make me believe that, 
Dave Porter. I know too much about such 
things. I know that money talks, for one thing. 
I think I might have had a lieutenancy if my 
old man would only have shelled out enough 
money. But you know how tight he is — just as 
tight as the bark on a tree.” 

“ What did he say when you were drafted. 


WHAT NAT POOLE SAID 121 

Nat?” questioned Dave, with pardonable curi- 
osity. 

“What did he say? What could he say? I 
was drafted, and that was all there was to it. 
You knew my sentiments when you were in Crum- 
ville. Didn’t you break up one of my peace 
meetings — a meeting I had a perfect right to 
hold ? ” 

“ I deny that you had a right to hold that 
meeting, Nat. However, all of that is now 
past and gone. You’re in the army, and it is 
your duty to do the best you can for Uncle Sam.” 

“Oh, I’ll do my duty — don’t you fear about 
that, Dave Porter. I’m just as patriotic as any- 
body. But, at the same time, I claim I have a 
right to be patriotic in my own way.” 

“ Well, you let me give you a little advice, 
Nat,” was Dave’s earnest comment. “ The fel- 
lows over here in France are rather serious- 
minded, and they won’t stand for any nonsense. 
If they get the least intimation that you are any 
kind of a slacker, they’ll come down on you like 
a ton of bricks.” 

“ I don’t need your advice 1 ” 

“ Very well then, Nat; I won’t say another 
word.” 

“ You think just because you’ve been over here 
a year or so and they have made you a sergeant 
that you know everything. I haven’t forgotten 


122 DAVE PORTER’S WAR HONORS 


how you tried to run things at Oak Hall. Of 
course, some of the fellows toadied to you, but 
if you’ll remember, I wasn’t in that crowd.” 

“ Now, Nat, don’t get so hot under the collar. 
It won’t get you anywhere. We’re both over 
here to do our duty, so what is the use of quar- 
reling? I was going to ask you about some cf 
the folks at home and how Crumville looked and 
all that; and I thought maybe you would like to 
know something about Ben Basswood and the 
other fellows you know who are over here.” 

“ I don’t want to know anything about Ben 
Basswood or any of the others of the bunch who 
are under your thumb. I’m with a crowd that 
suits me a great deal better than that Oak Hall 
bunch ever did. But I’ll tell you one thing, Dave 
Porter,” went on Nat suddenly. “ There is one 
fellow in our command that you had better keep 
your eyes open for.” 

“ And who is that? ” 

Oh, you’ll find out soon enough — that is, if 
you ever get any real news from Crumville,” 
answered the money lender’s son insinuatingly. 

“ Then you don’t want to tell me? ” 

“ Well, if you want to know so bad, it’s Lieu- 
tenant Max Gebauer, the son of that millionaire 
jewelry manufacturer of Philadelphia,” went on 
Nat triumphantly. “You know their firm and 


WHAT NAT POOLE SAID 123 

the Wadsworth concern have a whole lot of busi- 
ness dealings/’ 

“ Well, what has Lieutenant Gebauer and those 
business dealings to do with me? ” questioned our 
hero, although he knew about what was coming. 

“ I guess you thought you had it all settled 
with Jessie Wadsworth and had it all fixed just 
how you were going to tie fast to the Wadsworth 
fortune,” continued Nat. ‘‘ Well, maybe you’ll 
have another guess coming. I don’t imagine 
Jessie Wadsworth thinks as much of you as you 
think she does.” 

“ Don’t you think you had better let Jessie drop, 
Nat? Our feelings for each other are our own, 
not yours.” And Dave’s voice grew a trifle cold. 

“Oh, of course! And I don’t intend to butt 
in. I never cared for her, and you know it. 
She’s an only daughter, and thoroughly spoiled.” 
Nat did not seem to realize that he was an only 
son and over-indulged. “ Just the same, I think 
Lieutenant Gebauer has got the upper hand of 
you. He helped her at some charity exhibitions, 
and took her out riding, and to one of the dances, 
and I don’t know what all. He’s been calling on 
her right along, and the rumor is around Crum- 
ville that they are secretly engaged.” 

“ Nat, you’re making that so-called rumor up 
yourself I ” cried Dave. “ I know all about how 


124 DAVE PORTER’S WAR HONORS 

Max Gebauer has been calling on Jessie and how 
he forced his attentions on her. She herself has 
written to me about it, if you must know. I 
don’t give that fellow any credit for what he has 
done. But now that he is in France and she is 
done with him, why not let the whole matter 
drop? ” 

“ Oh, so she wrote to you about him, did she? 
Well, maybe she told the truth and maybe she 
didn’t. Oh, now don’t get too hot! ” cried Nat 
hastily, as Dave’s eyes suddenly flashed fire and 
he clenched his fists. “ I’m only telling you about 
things that I saw with my own eyes. I know that 
she went out with him a great deal and that she 
seemed to like his company. And whether you 
want to believe it or not, there is a rumor that 
they are secretly engaged and that they are to 
announce the engagement publicly as soon as she 
can get some sort of a decent pretext for break- 
ing off her engagement with you. That’s all I’ve 
got to say.” 

And having thus delivered himself, Nat Poole 
turned to where a motor lorry bound for his camp 
was standing, and a few minutes later was off, 
leaving Dave in a much disturbed frame of mind 
staring after him. 


CHAPTER XIII 


THE DISTINGUISHED SERVICE MEDAL 

An hour later found Dave on a heavy motor- 
lorry bound for the place to which the fighting en- 
gineers had moved after the thrilling fight on the 
new roadway through the forest. Our hero had 
been told by one of the hospital staff that the 
lorry was headed that way, and the driver, a 
young American college man, had readily con- 
sented to give him a lift. 

The drive to the engineers’ camp took about 
two hours. For the greater part it was over 
roadways much torn up by shell-fire and being 
used by a steady stream of lorries and other 
turnouts coming and going. On the way they 
met a battery which was shifting its position, and 
also a regiment of soldiers who were swinging 
along whistling popular tunes. They likewise 
passed a number of French people, most of them 
carrying some of their worldly possessions on their 
backs or under their arms. All of them looked 
much downcast, as if they had lost their last friend 
on earth, yet when they met the eyes of the Amer- 
icans they would smile hopefully. 

125 


126 DAVE PORTER’S WAR HONORS 


They’re looking to our boys to do a whole 
lot for them,” said the lorry driver to Dave. 

And we’re going to make good ! ” answered 
our hero promptly. “ Those folks are all going 
to have their homes back again.” 

At the time Dave returned to camp the engi- 
neers had finished one piece of work and were 
awaiting orders. As soon as he leaped from the 
lorry there was a rush to greet him. 

“Here’s Dave!” 

“ How are you, old man? ” 

“ How did they treat you at the hospital? ” 

“ Say, but you’re looking fine 1 It must pay to 
get wounded.” 

“ It hasn’t been the same old camp since you 
went away, Dave. My, but we’re glad to see 
you back! ” And Roger, who had thus spoken, 
grabbed him by both hands. Then the others 
surrounded bur hero, and while one caught a 
hand another caught him around the shoulders 
and another around the waist. 

“ Hay, let up, you fellows ! ” cried the young 
sergeant good-naturedly. “ Please don’t pull me 
apart. Remember I have just come from the 
hospital.” 

“ That’s right ! Boys, be careful,” admonished 
Phil. “ We don’t want to kill him with kindness.” 

“ Say, that puts me in mind of a story,” burst 
out Shadow, who had been the one to encircle 


THE DISTINGUISHED SERVICE MEDAL 127 

Dave’s waist. “ A ragged newsboy went to a 
charity picnic. One of the ladies kept on stuffing 
him with cake. Finally she said: ‘ Oh, Johnny, 
do have another piece of cake.’ Then Johnny 
turned a woebegone face on her and replied: 
‘ Thank yer, Miss. I could chaw it fur yer, but 
I couldn’t swaller it’ ” 

“ We’ve got no time to listen to stories — only 
the one that Dave has to tell,” burst out Ben. 

“ I’m glad to see you in service again, Buster! ” 
exclaimed Dave, as he caught the stout youth by 
the hand. 

“ We’ve both been through it, haven’t we, 
Dave? ” was Buster’s reply, with a grin. 

“ Here is where the Oak Hall boys celebrate! ” 
cried Roger. 

“You’ve said it!” responded Phil. “And 
thank fortune we’ve got something to celebrate 
on,” he added. 

“Phil and I went back to the nearest French 
town yesterday,” explained Ben. “ We took up 
a collection and came back with a whole lot of 
good things to eat. We thought you would be 
along soon, from the word you sent two days 
ago.” 

“ That’s fine ! ” replied Dave, his eyes beam- 
ing. It warmed his heart to think of how his 
chums had remembered him. “ Oak Hall for- 
ever! ” he exclaimed enthusiastically. And then 


128 DAVE PORTER’S WAR HONORS 


he added, making a sudden wry face : “ Al- 

though I know one fellow who won’t subscribe 
to that sentiment.” 

“Who is he?” 

“ Show him to me, and I’ll pound the life out of 
him!” 

“ He must be some dirty sneak! ” 

“ The fellow I mean is Nat Poole,” answered 
Dave, and then came another outburst. 

“ Where did you meet that slacker? ” 

“ Did they really make him come over to France 
after all?” 

“ Do you really mean to say you met Nat 
Poole? ” demanded Roger. 

“ Yes. At the hospital where I was staying — 
just before I came away.” And then our hero 
gave some of the particulars. He did not at 
that time mention Lieutenant Max Gebauer ex- 
cept in a general way, for he did not wish to 
drag Jessie’s name into the discussion which he 
knew would follow. 

“Gee, but that’s rich — Nat Poole getting 
whacked over the wrist with a frying-pan ! ” 
chuckled Phil. “ I wish I had been there to see 
it.” 

“ And fancy Nat pitching into the cook for 
having done it!” said Buster. “I suppose he 
went up and shook his forefinger in the cook’s 
face and said: ‘You naughty boy! You are 


THE DISTINGUISHED SERVICE MEDAL 129 

real rude, don’t you know! ’ ” he mimicked, and 
at this there was a roar of laughter. 

“ Well, there is one thing certain,” remarked 
Ben. “ The army will either make a man of Nat 
or he’ll be about half-killed, even if he doesn’t 
get shot.” 

“ Fancy Nat’s wanting to be an officer! ” broke 
in Phil. 

“ I must say I am mighty thankful for one 
thing,” announced our hero. “ And that is that 
Nat didn’t attempt to join the engineers. I would 
consider it an awful hardship to have him around 
all the time.” 

“ You never said anything truer than that, 
Dave,” returned Ben. 

That night there was quite a celebration in one 
corner of the large dugout where the company 
to which Dave belonged was quartered. All the 
good things purchased by Phil and Ben in the 
neighboring French town were brought forth, and 
it may be surmised that all the young engineers 
did full justice to the “ eats ” set before them. 

“ This is almost like one of our old feasts at 
Oak Hall,” was Dave’s comment. 

“ Only we haven’t got Big Jim Murphy to 
watch us,” said Buster. 

“ Good-hearted Jim ! ” cried Dave. “ He sure 
did do us many a good turn. I wonder where he 
is now? ” 


130 DAVE PORTER’S WAR HONORS 

“ Somebody told me he was in the heavy artil- 
lery, along with Luke Watson,” answered Shadow. 

“ Speaking of the old Oak Hall boys, what 
has become of Polly Vane?” queried Ben, re- 
ferring to a youth of high intellectuality who, 
because of his girlish appearance, had been nick- 
named Polly. 

“ Polly is at the head of one of the big govern- 
ment offices in Washington,” answered Roger. 
“ I found that out through my dad, who chanced 
to meet him there one day while on business. 
Polly, he told me, is doing unusually well. It’s 
something connected with the war department, 
so you can say that he is really in the war, too, 
even though he isn’t on the firing-line.” 

It was not until the next day, when Dave could 
catch Roger alone, that he told his chum of what 
Nat Poole had said concerning Lieutenant Max 
Gebauer. This brought on quite a talk, during 
which the senator’s son told of what Laura had 
written on the subject of the young lieutenant. 

“ I always wanted to say something about that 
to you, Dave,” said Roger; “but somehow I 
couldn’t bring myself to do it. I spoke to Phil 
about it, and we concluded that it would do no 
good to worry you. I am mighty glad that the 
matter is cleared up so far as you and Jessie are 
concerned, and I know that Phil will be mighty 
glad, too.” 


THE DISTINGUISHED SERVICE MEDAL 131 

“ I understand your feelings perfectly, Roger. 
Just the same, I think you should have come to 
me in the first place. However, that is now a 
thing of the past. What worries me is what Nat 
Poole said about a rumor going around Crum- 
ville concerning Jessie and this lieutenant. If 
this gets to Jessie’s ears, it will certainly hurt 
her feelings terribly.” 

“ I don’t doubt that.” 

“ Maybe when she sent Gebauer off about his 
business he got miffed and spread the report him- 
self, just to get square with her. And for all 
I know, Nat Poole may have had a hand in it, 
too.” 

“ If he did he ought to have a good pounding 
for it! ” The senator’s son thought for a mo- 
ment. “ I’ll tell you what I can do, Dave. I can 
write to Laura and tell her what Nat Poole said, 
and then she and Jessie can fix up some scheme 
whereby they can let folks in Crumville know that 
there is nothing in the rumor.” 

“ Yes, that might help some,” and Dave’s face 
brightened a little. A letter was written that very 
night by the senator’s son and posted without 
delay. 

Captain Obray was glad to see Dave back again, 
and praised him once more for what he had done. 

“ As you know. Sergeant Porter, you have al- 
ready been cited for bravery for what you did for 


132 DAVE PORTER’S WAR HONORS 

me and others during that battle,” said the cap- 
tain of the engineers. “ In a few days I hope 
to be able to announce something that will, I am 
sure, please you very much.” 

Two days later came the announcement, which 
filled Dave with great pleasure. The engineers 
were reviewed by one of the army generals, and 
Dave, with a number of others, was asked to 
step forward, and then upon the breast of the 
young sergeant was pinned a Distinguished Service 
Medal — a round bronze disk bearing upon it an 
American eagle. The disk rested on a ribbon hav- 
ing a white center with a narrow blue stripe on 
each side and with red stripes at the ends. It 
may be mentioned here that the Distinguished 
Service Medals are authorized by our President 
for distinguished services in the present war. 

“ Dave, we’ve got to congratulate you,” said 
Roger warmly, after the review had come to an 
end and he and some of the other engineers had 
come around to gaze at the medal and admire it. 
“ That is something you can wear for the rest 
of your life with a great deal of pride.” 

“ I’m hoping to see each of you fellows get one 
of these before the war is over,” answered the 
young sergeant. “ I don’t know but what some 
of you deserve them already.” 

“ We’re not all as quick-witted as you are, 
Dave,” remarked Buster. “ We may be willing 


1 



Upon the breast of the young sergeant was pinned a Distin- 
guished Service Medal. — Page 132. 


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THE DISTINGUISHED SERVICE xMEDAL 133 

enough to do a thing, but while we are thinking 
about it you jump in and do it.’’ 

“ You’ve said it, Buster,” added Shadow. “ It’s 
the quick-thinking and quick-acting fellow who is 
going to get in the lead in this war, every time.” 

Shadow and Phil had something to tell Dave 
which further interested the young sergeant. 
This was to the effect that they had had a chance 
some time before to visit the place where Dave 
had once located a hidden German ammunition 
dump. The two young engineers had made a 
long search in that vicinity for Dave’s missing 
watch. They had found the wrist-band to which 
the timepiece had been attached, but the watch 
itself had been missing. 

“ Well, that proves one thing,” said Dave. 
“ I certainly lost the watch in that vicinity. And 
if it wasn’t in the band it must have either been 
smashed by the explosion or otherwise some per- 
son must have picked it up.” 

Of course Dave had to write home concerning his 
medal, and he took the occasion to send a long 
communication to Jessie, mentioning what Nat 
Poole had told him concerning Gebauer. He 
added that he hoped the girl would not suffer 
because of any rumor that might have been circu- 
lated in their home town. 

“ Well, we have orders to get on the march 
again to-morrow morning,” announced one of the 


134 DAVE PORTER’S AVAR HONORS 

sergeants to Dave two days later, following a 
quiet Sunday, which Dave had spent in resting and 
in attending services at a nearby Y. M. C. A. hut. 
At the services he had listened to a good, straight- 
forward sermon on the duties of a soldier, and 
there had followed a number of the familiar re- 
ligious songs in which the entire congregation of 
engineers and others had joined heartily. 

“ I suppose we’re going up to the front again? ” 
remarked Dave. 

“ More than likely. Although I haven’t any 
very definite information.” 

“ Did they say whether it would be trench work 
or road work? ” 

“Trench work, I imagine; although I’m not 
sure.” 

Two days after that found the fighting engi- 
neers in a place that was entirely new to them. 
Here a long line of trenches were under construc- 
tion by some other engineers, and they were sent 
in to give assistance before opening up a roadway 
still further to the northeast. 

The weather had been fairly good for some 
time, but now another storm set in which made 
trench-digging anything but pleasant. However, 
it was all a part of the game, as Dave remarked, 
and consequently he did not complain. He wore 
his high trench boots and his rubber slicker, and 
thus protected himself as best he could. 


THE DISTINGUISHED SERVICE MEDAL 135 

A large part of the trench work in that vicinity 
had been completed before the fighting engineers 
arrived on the scene. They, however, were set 
to work completing the interior of a dugout of 
large proportions, a place located fully forty feet 
underground and covered with the trunks of 
many trees. 

“ This certainly ought to be a safe place from 
any bombardment,” remarked Phil, while they 
were at work. 

Sixteen of the engineers were still down in the 
dugout, the others having been ordered to the 
surface, when there came a cry of alarm from a 
distance. Immediately following the cry came a 
roar of artillery, and this was kept up for fully 
a quarter of an hour. 

“ Something is doing — that’s sure ! ” cried 
Dave. “ I wonder if it is possible that a battle 
is developing in this vicinity? ” 

“ It certainly sounds like it,” answered Ben. 
“ And it sounds to me as if it was coming nearer 
every minute.” 

“ If it comes this way, maybe we’ll be in for 
another fight! ” cried Roger. 


CHAPTER XIV 


THE MACHINE-GUN NESTS 

“ The Huns are coming, boys! ’’ 

“ Up and at ’em, fellows I Don’t give Jerry 
a chance to get anywhere near us 1 ” 

So the cries ran up and down the trenches, 
mingled with several orders and the cracking of 
rifles. Then the artillery, which had ceased for 
a moment, began again, this time with increased 
fury. 

‘‘ I think we had better get out of here, boys,” 
announced Dave. “ Never mind your tools. I 
guess all you’ll want just now will be your rifles. 
We’ll go as far as the entrance to the dugout, 
anyway.” 

As the dugout and the entrance to it were not 
yet completed, it was no easy task to crawl up the 
wet and slippery slope leading to the trenches. 

As requested by him, the top sergeant of the 
company had been transferred to another unit, and 
as Dave was next in rank to him, and as 
no one had been as yet appointed to fill poor 
Lieutenant Harney’s place, Dave was in command 
of the engineers left in the dugout. 

It must be admitted that he felt his responsi- 
136 


THE MACHINE-GUN NESTS 


137 


bility, the more so because the sudden alarm above 
had cut him off from communication with the 
first lieutenant or the captain. Some of the engi- 
neers attached to the signal corps had been string- 
ing telephone wires along the trench to the dug- 
out, but these were as yet not ready to be used. 

As the engineers came up to the level of the 
trench above them they saw some fierce fighting 
not a great distance away. A fairly large body 
of German troops had come forward over a slight 
rise of ground and had taken a position behind 
a natural ridge of rocks. Off to one side a Ger- 
man machine-gun nest had been located, and from 
this the enemy was pouring a constant fire toward 
the Americans. 

“We’re in for it, all right enough I” cried 
Roger. 

“ Boys, when you use your guns make every 
shot tell ! ” cried Dave to his little command. 
And then, of a sudden, he turned to face the 
crowd. “ Are you with me in trying to do a bit 
of hazardous work that may count big for our 
side?” he questioned quickly. 

“ Sure we are ! ” cried Phil. 

“ You can count on me every time, Dave I You 
know that,” announced Roger. 

“ Show us what we can do, and we’ll do it,” 
was the way Ben expressed himself. And the 
others shouted various words of approval. 


138 DAVE PORTER’S WAR HONORS 

A few military supplies had been brought down 
into the dugout by some soldiers who had been 
ordered to leave them there for the present. 
Among these supplies Dave had noticed a box 
of hand-grenades. He immediately ordered two 
of his men to go below and bring the box up with 
all possible speed. 

“ I am not quite sure whether we can reach that 
machine-gun nest with these hand-grenades or 
not,” he said; “but, anyway, I think it’s worth 
trying.” 

“ We can’t throw them from here,” said Phil. 

“ I don’t intend to throw them from here. I’ll 
show you what I have in mind just as soon as 
the grenades have been distributed.” 

It was an easy matter to break open the box 
and hand the grenades around. Each man was 
supplied with four to six of the deadly explosives. 
Then Dave, after another careful survey of the 
machine-gun nest, ordered his men to follow him. 

On arriving in that locality the young sergeant 
had taken time to look over the ground carefully, 
noting the various trenches which were in the 
course of construction. In doing this he had taken 
note also of the lay of the land and had wondered 
what would happen if an approach should be made 
by the enemy through a little rocky gully running 
off to one side and which was all but hidden by 
some stunted undergrowth. 


THE MACHINE-GUN NESTS 


139 


This gully, he had now noted with satisfaction, 
ran in an irregular way toward the vicinity of the 
nest where the German machine-gunners were 
operating their weapon with such telling effect 
against the Americans. At one point where the 
gully made a sharp turn it was less than fifty 
yards distant from the gun. 

“ I don’t believe I’ll need more than three or 
four men,” announced Dave presently. ” Who 
wants to go along? ” 

Every engineer wanted that honor, and all 
begged Dave not to leave them behind. 

“ All right — you can all come along if you 
want to,” he announced, with a grin. “ We’ll 
give the Heinies a salute they will most likely never 
forget.” 

The young sergeant led the way along the 
trench to where there was an unfinished portion, 
and there he halted his little party and instructed 
them carefully. 

“ Just beyond the top of this trench at a dis- 
tance of about ten feet is the beginning of a gully 
which runs along between the rocks and bushes 
for a long distance. It is very irregular in shape, 
and in some places is much deeper than at others. 
We’ll have to crawl along slowly and do our best 
to keep ourselves hidden. Otherwise the Huns 
may spot us, and then it will be all over. Keep 
your guns ready for use in case any of the Heinies 


140 DAVE PORTER’S WAR HONORS 

show themselves. They may be in the gully al- 
ready.” 

With caution he raised his helmet on top of his 
rifle and held it above the top of the trench. No 
rifle report followed, and he moved the helmet 
along a distance of several feet, as if the man wear- 
ing it were walking. But no shot came, and then 
without further delay he crawled quickly over the 
top of the trench and made for the entrance to the 
gully he had mentioned. Like so many snakes the 
other engineers wriggled along after him. 

It took fully a minute for the whole sixteen 
to reach the gully, and during that time each man 
was fearful that the Germans would discover and 
open fire upon them. But the battle was raging 
furiously at some distance, and they fortunately 
were not noticed. 

Once in the gully, they proceeded with caution. 
Dave was in the lead, with Roger next and Phil 
and the others following. All crawled along on 
their arms and knees, holding their rifles ready 
for instant use. 

Presently Dave heard a sound ahead which 
brought him instantly to a halt. It was the noise 
of a loose stone falling on a rock, and there fol- 
lowed an exclamation of pain in German. Evi- 
dently the stone had come down on somebody in 
that part of the gully just ahead. 

The young sergeant motioned for those behind 


THE MACHINE-GUN NESTS 


141 


him to keep absolutely quiet. Then, with his gun 
ready for immediate use, he moved forward inch 
by inch until he could peer around a turn in the 
gully. 

A German soldier was there, sitting on a rock 
with his back toward our hero. In one hand he 
had a sandwich, consisting of rye bread and a 
sausage, and the other a small bottle of native 
wine, and he was evidently enjoying his lunch 
regardless of the battle going on all around him. 
Dave looked beyond the German and saw that he 
was alone. 

It would have been an easy matter for the young 
sergeant to have killed this enemy then and there ; 
but he could not bring himself thus to shoot a 
fellow human being in the back, and besides he 
did not consider it good policy to make any un- 
necessary noise in the gully. The success of the 
task he had undertaken lay, largely, he felt certain, 
in advancing in utter silence. 

He motioned to Phil and Roger, and both un- 
derstood. Then all three advanced side by side 
and laid down their rifles. 

The next instant Dave was on the German and 
with both hands had caught him directly over the 
mouth, pulling him backward. Then Roger and 
Phil leaped forward, one to kneel on the fellow’s 
breast and the other to catch him by the legs. 

The German was taken completely by surprise. 


142 DAVE PORTER’S WAR HONORS 

and with his mouth full of bread and sausage he 
came close to choking. He spluttered and gasped, 
and then, seeing he was helpless in the hands of 
the Americans, gasped out hoarsely : Kamerod! 
Kamerad! 

“ All right, ' kamerad Ht is! ” announced Dave 
in a whisper. “ But you keep quiet.” And to 
make the fellow understand he pointed to his 
mouth and placed his hand over that organ of 
speech. 

The fellow understood and nodded. His gun 
had rested across his lap, so he was easily dis- 
armed. Then Dave detailed two of the engi- 
neers to take the fellow back to the American 
lines. 

“ And don’t let him make any noise while he 
is in this gully,” cautioned the young sergeant. 

“ You bet your boots he’ll never let out more 
than one peep! ” announced one of the engineers 
who was to take the prisoner back. And, looking 
at the prisoner, he pointed to the fellow’s mouth 
and then to the point of his own bayonet, to 
intimate that if the fellow made any noise he 
would be stabbed to death. But the German pris- 
oner had no intention of risking his life further, 
and he nodded vigorously to show that he under- 
stood. 

With this German thus disposed of, Dave and 


THE MACHINE-GUN NESTS 


143 


those remaining with him again advanced, this 
time with increased caution, for if one German had 
found his way into the gully others might do like- 
wise, and the engineers did not wish to be treated 
to a disagreeable surprise. 

As they progressed it must not be supposed that 
they did not keep their eyes and ears open for what 
was going on beyond the gully. Every few feet 
they stopped to look up and peer between the rocks 
and the stunted undergrowth which overhung the 
edges of the depression. Beyond this hollow the 
landscape had been torn up and in many places 
swept clean by the heavy artillery fire of that day 
and of days gone by. 

Presently they came to another turn in the gully. 
Here there was a deep depression, and they had to 
wade through water and mud up to their knees. 
They were now getting closer to the German ma- 
chine-gun nest, and Dave motioned to his men to 
increase their caution and for each of them to hold 
a hand-grenade ready for use. 

At last they reached a point where it seemed 
impossible to go any further. A shell had ex- 
ploded in that vicinity and completely blocked the 
gully. To advance farther would mean that they 
would have to crawl out of the depression and 
around a small hill of dirt and sand left by the ex- 
ploded shell. 


144 DAVE PORTER’S WAR HONORS 

“ I don’t know whether we can reach that ma- 
chine-gun nest from here or not,” Dave whispered 
to the others. 

“What’s the matter with going over the top 
after that nest? ” demanded Roger. 

“Do you want to do it?” questioned Dave 
quickly, turning to all of those under him. 

“ Sure! Let us go over! ” was the whispered 
answer. Not an engineer wanted to hold back. 

With more caution than ever Dave peeped out 
among the rocks and calculated what might be the 
chances for success. While he was doing this 
he made another discovery, which was to the ef- 
fect that while they had been slowly crawling up 
the gully another machine-gun of the Germans had 
been located almost side by side with the first. 
Both guns were popping away constantly, and 
evidently doing considerable damage. 

“ If they should turn their guns this way it 
would be all up with us,” said the young sergeant. 
“ So if we show ourselves we’ll be taking our lives 
in our hands.” 

“ Well, what of it? Come on ! ” 

“ Don’t let us waste any more time. Those 
guns must be doing terrible damage to our fel- 
lows.” 

“ Let us get busy with these hand-grenades 
right away.” 

They were all enthusiastic, and Dave more so 


THE MACHINE-GUN NESTS 


145 


than any one else. His eyes lit up with patriotic 
fire as he got a hand-grenade ready for use. 

“ All right, boys ! If you say so we’ll go over 
the top and at ’em,” he cried. “ Get your gre- 
nades ready, but don’t throw until I give the word. 
And then be sure to give it to the Heinies just 
where it will do the most good.” 

There was a brief pause, and then Dave leaped 
forth from the gully, followed almost instantly 
by all of the others. Away they sped over the 
ground in the direction of the machine-gun nests. 

They had covered fully fifty feet before the 
Germans discovered them. Then a yell went up 
and several shots rang out, the bullets whistling 
over their heads. 

“ Now then — all together I ” yelled Dave, and 
let fly with his hand-grenade. The others hurled 
their explosives at the same time. 

While two of the hand-grenades went wide of 
the mark and one other failed to go off, the others 
came down directly in the midst of the two ma- 
chine-gun nests. There was a loud explosion, fol- 
lowed rapidly by a number of others. The ma- 
chine-guns were completely wrecked and the bodies 
of the gunners were hurled in all directions ! 


CHAPTER XV 


LIEUTENANT PORTER 

“ A HIT I A perfect hit I ” 

“ That’s the time we showed the Huns what we 
can do 1 ” 

“ Say ! do you know I believe we killed every 
Jerry in the bunch? ” 

So the cries and comments ran on as the fighting 
engineers surveyed the havoc they had wrought. 
The hand-grenades had exploded with terrific 
force, sending pieces of the machine-guns almost 
to where they were standing. All the gun crews 
had been either killed or fatally wounded, some of 
the bodies being horribly mutilated. 

“ It certainly makes a fellow sick to look at it,” 
murmured Dave to Roger. 

“ So it does, Dave. But this isn’t child’s play. 
It’s stern war.” 

The machine-gun nests had been seen from a 
distance, but the Yankee soldiers had had no op- 
portunity to get at them. Now the annihilation 
of the nests was viewed with astonishment, which 
quickly turned to intense satisfaction. A cheer 
146 


LIEUTENANT PORTER 


147 


went down the line, and then in a twinkling the 
Americans came over at those who had advanced 
to lay them low. 

The outbreak had been nothing but a skirmish 
at the start, but now it was gradually growing into 
a genuine battle. Before night the fighting line 
extended for over a mile and a half, and the con- 
flict kept up long after darkness had fallen. 

Having accomplished his purpose, Dave or- 
dered his command to retire. They were just 
leaving the end of the gully to get back to the 
' trench when the young sergeant saw Captain 
Obray running toward him. 

“ What does this mean. Sergeant Porter? 
Where have you been? ” called out the captain of 
the engineers. 

“ We’ve just blown up two machine-gun nests, 
Captain,” answered Dave, with pardonable pride. 

“What? Were you responsible for those ex- 
plosions we heard in that direction? ” and the cap- 
tain pointed with his hand. 

“Yes, sir,” answered Dave; and related some 
of the particulars. “ I sent Jackson and Meeks 
back with a prisoner.” 

“ Yes, I saw them with the fellow, but just 
then I had no time to ask them the particulars,” 
answered Captain Obray. “ You certainly have 
done wonderfully well. Those machine-guns were 
doing terrible execution on our boys. With those 


148 DAVE PORTER’S WAR HONORS 

guns going, we could not have advanced at this 
point.” 

The captain then told Dave that he and the men 
under him must retire along with the rest of the 
engineering unit. 

“Two regiments of the regulars are coming 
this way,” he announced, “ and they can hold this 
ground a great deal better than we can. And 
besides that, there will be plenty of work for us 
to do just as soon as this battle comes to an end. 
Unless I miss my guess, we are going to make 
quite an advance on Jerry; ” Jerry being the name 
by which the Germans were occasionally desig- 
nated — why, no one could tell. 

The advance and the retirement over the rough 
rocks of the gully had been no easy task for the en- 
gineers, and all were glad enough to go back to 
the shelter of the unfinished dugout. As they went 
down the slope Dave paused just long enough to 
see a company of the regulars come into view on 
the double-quick. 

As said before, the fighting continued far into 
the night, and early in the morning it was renewed 
and did not come to a stop until about the middle 
of the afternoon. By that time the Americans 
had made an advance along the line from a half 
mile to two miles deep ; and once more they began 
to dig in with all possible speed. 

It was a night not easily forgotten by Dave and 


LIEUTENANT PORTER 


149 


his chums. They had had no supper, and to cook 
under such circumstances was practically out of the 
question. They used their emergency rations, and 
about two o’clock in the afternoon saw some of the 
kitchen details coming forward with hot stew and 
coffee. These, along with chunks of bread, were 
eagerly devoured by the hungry engineers. 

“ Well, we sure did make a record for oufselves 
in this battle,” remarked Buster, when the fighting 
had come to an end. “ We ought to get some 
credit for smashing up those gun nests.” 

“ You’ll get it, don’t you worry,” returned 
Dave. “ You just wait until I make my report.” 

The news soon circulated that Dave and his de- 
tail had been instrumental in annihilating the two 
German machine-guns with their crews, and the 
major of the engineering unit himself came down 
to the quarters to praise the young sergeant and 
shake hands with every fellow who had been with 
him. 

“ Captain Obray reported this, but I want more 
of the particulars,” said the major. “ It was 
grand! You are certainly helping us keep up the 
name of the fighting engineers.” 

Partial recognition of what Dave and those un- 
der him had done came very shortly afterwards. 
All were cited for bravery, and those who had not 
yet received medals did so, much to their satisfac- 
tion. 


150 DAVE PORTER’S WAR HONORS 

“ I knew you fellows would get medals sooner 
or later,” declared Dave to his chums, as he shook 
hands with them. “ I tell you it takes the Oak 
Hall boys to cover themselves with glory.” 

“ Yes, but it was your plan that we followed, 
Dave,” said Roger. “ I don’t believe anybody 
else would have thought of it.” 

After that came two weeks of hard work, in the 
midst of which another storm descended upon the 
engineers, making them miserable for a day or 
two. 

“ But I don’t care,” announced Dave grimly. 
“ We’re pushing right ahead, and that means a 
whole lot. Anything to down the Huns ! ” 

The next morning the skies cleared, and then 
the aviators began to get busy. Dave watched 
them for a while, for flying always interested him 
greatly. 

“ I think if I wasn’t an engineer I would like to 
be an airman,” he told Roger. 

“ Exactly my idea, Dave. But we are engi- 
neers, and I suppose we’ve got to stick to our jobs 
until the war is over.” 

“ I’m making a bet the war will be over by 
Christmas,” broke in Phil. 

“ Oh, I don’t believe the end will come so 
quickly as all that I ” cried Buster. “ I think it 
will probably keep on until the middle of next 
summer. By that time Germany will have come 


LIEUTENANT PORTER 


151 

to the end of her resources, and she will have to 
sue for peace.” 

“ I believe the Central Powers are worse off 
than we imagine,” said Dave. “ They are simply 
putting on a bold front, hoping by some manner of 
means to bring us to terms.” 

“ Say, maybe they’ll come to terms like the girl 
did when the fellow wanted to marry her I ” cried 
Shadow. “ At first she declared that she wouldn’t 
marry him until he earned at least fifty dollars a 
week. He was then getting twelve. A few 
weeks later he came to her and announced that the 
boss had raised his wages to fifteen dollars. ‘ All 
right. Jack,’ said the girl. ‘ Now that you’ve got 
your raise I suppose we had better get married. 
Fifteen dollars is pretty near to fifty anyhow.’ ” 
And at this there was a general laugh. 

Two days later came word to Dave that thrilled 
him greatly. He received a commission as a lieu- 
tenant of the engineers, while Roger and Phil be- 
came sergeants and Ben was made a corporal. 

“ Allow me to congratulate you. Lieutenant 
Porter,” said Captain Obray, grasping Dave’s 
hand warmly. “ I think this gives me almost as 
much pleasure as it does you.” 

“ It certainly makes me feel good, I won’t deny 
it,” returned Dave, his eyes gleaming with satis- 
faction. “ I thought I was going some to become 
a sergeant. But to be a lieutenant of the engi- 


152 DAVE PORTER’S WAR HONORS 

neers! I never dreamed I would get that far 
when I joined.” 

“ I hope to see you get farther yet before this 
war is over,” said the captain encouragingly, and 
then he went down the line congratulating Roger 
and the others on their promotions. 

“ Well, I suppose weVe got to bid you farewell 
now, Dave,” said Ben. “ As a commissioned of- 
ficer, you won’t want to herd with us common 
fellows any more.” 

“ Don’t you believe it for a minute, Ben,” was 
Dave’s quick reply. “ Of course, when we are on 
duty I’ve got to be your lieutenant, but when I’m 
not on duty you can take it from me that we are 
going to be the old chums we have always been,” 
and he caught his first boy friend by both hands 
and looked at Ben in a manner that meant a great 
deal. 

Of course, all of the engineers who had been 
promoted had to send the glad tidings to those at 
home. Dave wrote a long letter to his father and 
another to Jessie, while Roger penned like com- 
munications to his folks in Washington and to 
Laura, and Phil did not forget his own people 
and Belle Endicott, who was now visiting the 
Porters. 

But as the sunshine had followed the storm, so 
a cloud came two days later to mar our hero’s 


LIEUTENANT PORTER 


153 


happiness. He received a letter from Jessie 
which had been over two weeks on the way. In 
that the girl mentioned the fact that some folks 
in Crumville were treating her rather queerly, and 
that one girl in particular, on whom Max Gebauer 
had been in the habit of calling, had made a rather 
odd remark. The girl’s name was Benson, and 
of her Jessie wrote: 

“ I met Mary Benson yesterday in one of the 
stores. She spoke about Lieutenant Gebauer and 
then suddenly looked at me and shrugged her 
shoulders and said : ‘ I don’t suppose you hear 

from Dave Porter any more. You threw him 
aside rather suddenly, didn’t you? ’ I demanded 
to know what she meant, but she only shrugged 
her shoulders and walked off. I felt as If I could 
have shaken her good and hard. I never did like 
her when we went to school together, and now I 
like her less than ever.” 

Then the girl went on to admit that evidently 
some folks had got the wrong Impression concern- 
ing her and her Intimacy with Gebauer. She 
added that she and Laura were going to do what 
they could to straighten matters out. By reading 
between the lines Dave was made well aware of 
the fact that the girl he regarded so highly was 
having anything but a pleasant time of it because 
of what the young jewelry manufacturer from 


154 DAVE PORTER’S WAR HONORS 

Philadelphia had done and said. And it was evi- 
dent that Nat Poole had backed up Gebauer as 
far as was in his power. 

“ It’s an outrage ! That’s just what it is — an 
outrage ! ” declared Dave, when he talked the mat- 
ter over with Roger. “ I just wish I could be back 
in Crumville for a few days. I’d show those folks 
a thing or two.” The idea of having his Jessie 
suffer was maddening. 

“ I don’t think you ought to lay it to the folks 
in Crumville,” returned the senator’s son. “ I 
think you ought to lay it to that Gebauer and Nat.” 

Now that Dave had been made a lieutenant of 
the engineers he resolved to do everything in his 
power to make a creditable showing as a commis- 
sioned officer. He studied his engineering text- 
books and his volumes on French and German at 
every opportunity. Nor did he hesitate to go to 
Captain Obray and some of the other upper offi- 
cers for advice and instruction. This pleased the 
older men greatly, and they did all they could to 
encourage our hero. 

Some days later, when all was quiet in that sec- 
tor, Dave obtained permission to go to a French 
town about fifteen miles behind the lines. He 
wanted to make a few necessary purchases, and as 
Roger and Phil also wanted to buy some things 
they secured permission to go with him. 

The three caught a ride a short part of the 


LIEUTENANT PORTER 


155 


distance, and then walked the rest of the way. 
They were just on the outskirts of the town when 
they saw an American soldier ahead of them with 
a small French lad by his side. The French lad, 
who was gaunt in appearance, as though half 
starved, was lugging a large round bundle 
wrapped in old newspapers. 

“ Please, Monsieur ! Please, I cannot carry 
the package any farther,” wailed the boy in 
French, and he made a move as if to let the pack- 
age drop. 

“Here, you! None of that!” cried the sol- 
dier, catching the boy by the shoulder. “ Go on 
with that, or Pll give you something you won’t 
forget very soon ! ” and he shook his fist in the 
French boy’s face and then shoved him along. 

“ Hello ! I wonder what’s the matter with that 
brute ! ” cried Dave, when he saw this action. 
“ It’s a shame to make a lad like that carry such 
a big bundle.” 

“ And the poor little chap looks half starved, 
too,” wa.s Phil’s comment. 

“Come on! Let us look into this!” cried 
Dave. “ No soldier has any right to treat a 
French boy like that ! ” And he strode forward, 
never dreaming of the surprise in store for him. 


CHAPTER XVI 


A PERSONAL AFFAIR 

As Dave and his chums strode forward they 
saw the soldier ahead of them give the gaunt- 
looking French lad another shove. This caused 
the poor boy to lose his balance, and over he went 
in the roadway, falling on top of the big bundle 
he was carrying. 

“ Hi, you bruiser, stop that ! ” cried Dave, com- 
ing up behind the soldier and catching him by the 
arm. Then, as, rather startled by the interrup- 
tion, the fellow whirled around, he added in 
amazement: “ Nat Poole I ” 

‘‘ See here ! what do you mean by grabbing me 
by the arm?” demanded the son of the money 
lender of Crumville, as soon as he recovered from 
his astonishment. 

“ Why, it’s Nat Poole ! ” exclaimed Roger. 

“ Who would have thought of meeting him 
here? ” added Phil. 

“ You ought to be ashamed of yourself for treat- 
ing a poor French boy like this, Nat,” continued 
Dave, as he stepped forward and assisted the 
fallen boy to his feet. The fellow looked much 
156 


A PERSONAL AFFAIR 


157 


frightened, thus confronted by four soldiers. 
Evidently he was afraid he had gotten himself into 
serious trouble. He did not understand what was 
being said. 

“ I guess I’ve got a right to hire a boy to carry 
a bundle for me,” grumbled Nat. 

“ Did you hire him? ” demanded Dave. 

“ I don’t know as that’s any of your business,” 
was the blustering response. 

“ Did he hire you to carry the package for 
him?” questioned Dave of the boy in the best 
French he could command, which, it may be said 
here, was far from good. 

“ That soldier made me carry the bundle. He 
makes motions like he would beat me if I did not 
do it,” answered the boy, with a shiver. 

“ He won’t touch you; so don’t be afraid,” said 
Dave, and then he looked calmly at Nat. 

“ See here, Dave Porter ! what right have you 
to come and butt into my private affairs?” 
growled Nat. 

“ As a commissioned officer of the army I am 
bound to see to it that the inhabitants around 
here are properly treated,” answered Dave. And 
if he said this rather sternly I think he may be 
pardoned for so doing. 

“A commissioned officer? Humph, you’re 
only a sergeant! I don’t see how you got into 
that uniform.” 


158 DAVE PORTER’S WAR HONORS 

“ Lieutenant Porter was made a lieutenant some 
time ago,” said Phil. “ And you had better mind 
yourself, Nat, or you’ll get into trouble.” 

“So they made you a lieutenant, did they?” 
queried Nat; and it was easy to be seen that he 
was envious of Dave’s promotion. “ Funny the 
luck some fellows have 1 ” 

While this talk was going on the boy had been 
edging farther and farther away from the Ameri- 
cans. Now he suddenly took to his heels, run- 
ning off as if for dear life. 

“ Now see what you have done ! ” grumbled 
Nat. “ I wanted that boy to carry this bundle 
into town for me.” 

“ What’s the matter with carrying it yourself, 
Nat?” suggested Roger. “You are more able 
to do it than that poor half-starved kid.” 

“ Humph ! I wasn’t brought up to lug bundles,” 
grumbled the money lender’s son. 

“ Is it your own? ” questioned Phil. 

“No! It belongs to our captain. He de- 
tailed me to take it into town for him.” 

“ If he did, he must have done it as a punish- 
ment for you,” returned Dave quidkly. He well 
knew that privates were often punished by their 
superiors for slight infringements of the regula- 
tions by having disagreeable duties assigned to 
them. He himself had seen unlucky engineers set 


A PERSONAL AFFAIR 


159 


to work carrying bundles, cleaning up in camp, 
and even peeling potatoes and onions for weeks at 
a time. 

‘‘ Never mind why I was carrying the bundle. 
I can’t see that it’s any of your business, even if 
you are a lieutenant.” 

“ I won’t argue the point, Nat; but in the future 
you take my advice and leave the poor French boys 
alone.” 

“ Oh, say I you fellows make me tired,” growled 
the money lender’s son. And then, grabbing up 
the bundle which still lay in the roadway, he turned 
his back on the others and stalked off. 

“ Say, Dave, I think you ought to report him,” 
was Phil’s comment. 

“ Oh, let it go, Phil,” was the quick reply. “ If 
I, as a lieutenant, reported Nat, he would claim 
that it was nothing but a personal matter between 
us. I don’t want to take advantage of my posi- 
tion when it comes to dealing with somebody I 
have known for years. I would rather fight it 
out on my own hook, so to speak.” 

“ Oh, I understand your feelings, Dave — I’d 
feel that way myself.” 

“ If you reported Nat he would make a great 
hullabaloo and say you were simply trying to show 
your authority,” said Roger. “ Just the same, I 
am glad we caught him and came to the rescue of 


i6o DAVE PORTER’S WAR HONORS 

that boy. We want all of the inhabitants here to 
realize that we are their friends and intend to 
treat them with perfect fairness.” 

The three chums soon reached the town, Nat 
Poole having gone in ahead of them. Dave made 
his purchases, and Roger and Phil got what they 
wanted, and then they walked around to see the 
sights. This town had been under bombardment 
several times, and while a portion of it was still 
in fairly good condition, many of the buildings had 
suffered, and at the end of one of the streets the 
demolition was complete. 

“ Just think of having lived here while those 
bombardments were going on! ” was Dave’s com- 
ment, as they paused in front of one of the build- 
ings, a rear corner of which was still standing. 

“ It must make the French people heart-sick to 
come back and find their homes nothing but heaps 
of rubbish.” 

“ And to think that the Germans carried off 
nearly everything of value,” put in Phil. 

“ Never mind, Phil, some day we’ll make them 
pay the whole bill,” returned Dave. “ The only 
thing we can’t make good is the loss of life.” 

They walked around for over an hour, for this 
was the first chance they had had to look over this 
particular town. During the winter at the front 
they had had an opportunity to go back to two 
other ruined places, but at that time the ruins 


A PERSONAL AFFAIR i6i 

had been covered with a thick mantle of snow, so 
that they had seen comparatively little. 

Walking along one of the streets, which was 
still piled high with the debris of the last bom- 
bardment, Dave and his chums had occasion to 
walk under what remained of a bridgeway run- 
ning from one building across the road to another. 

“ It’s queer that bridge wasn’t knocked down by 
the bombardment,” remarked Roger, as he sur- 
veyed the ruin left on all sides. 

“ Some of these old stoneworks are remarkably 
substantial,” returned Dave. “ The engineers of 
those days certainly knew their business. Under 
ordinary circumstances a bridge like this will last 
for thousands of years.” 

They came out on the other side of the bridge 
and here paused to look around again. Then, 
as Dave happened to glance upward, he gave a 
sudden cry of alarm: 

“ Look out there I ” 

As he spoke there came down on their heads a 
perfect shower of dirt, consisting mostly of pul- 
verized lime and cement. Then, before they 
could move, another shower of the same stuff 
descended upon them. 

“ Great Caesar! do you suppose those buildings 
are going to fall? ” cried Phil. Some of the dust 
had got into his eyes, temporarily blinding him. 

“ No, nothing is falling,” answered Dave 


i 62 DAVE PORTER’S WAR HONORS 


quickly. “ That stuff came from the top of the 
bridgeway and was thrown down on us.” 

“Hi there! Stop that!” yelled Roger, and 
then repeated his words in French. 

“ I saw somebody’s arm, and that arm was 
dressed in khaki,” said Dave quickly. “ I be- 
lieve that stuff was thrown down by some of our 
soldiers. I am going up there to investigate. 
Come along.” 

To get up on the bridgeway was not difficult. 
They had to pass into what was left of one of the 
houses and then make their way up a rather rick- 
ety pair of stairs. Then they passed over a shaky 
floor and through a doorway leading to the bridge. 

As they did this, Dave, who was well in ad- 
vance, caught sight of two figures in khaki — 
those of a private and an officer. The two had 
been laughing boisterously, but now, as Dave and 
his chums came up on the bridge the others started 
away from them. But the far end of the bridge 
was blocked by the ruins of the building beyond, 
and the fleeing ones had to come to a halt. 

“ It’s Nat Poole, just as I thought,” said Dave 
to his chums. 

“Who is that fellow with him?” questioned 
Roger. 

“ I’m not quite sure, Roger, but he looks like 
Gebauer.” 



There came down on their heads a perfect shower of dirt 

Page 161 . 




A PERSONAL AFFAIR 163 

“So it is! I recognize him now. Well, what 
do you know about this ! 

In another moment the two parties were con- 
fronting each other. Nat looked rather sullen, 
while Lieutenant Gebauer put on a front as if the 
affair did not concern him in the least. Of course 
the engineers saluted, and Gebauer did likewise. 

“ Nat, did you throw that stuff down on top of 
us? ” demanded Dave. 

“ I don’t know what you are talking about,” 
was the low reply. 

“ Yes, you do,” put in Roger quickly, and go- 
ing forward he grabbed Nat by the arm. 

“ Roger Morr, you let me alone 1 ” howled the 
money lender’s son, a trifle frightened. 

“This is Lieutenant Gebauer, I believe?” re- 
marked Dave, a bit stiffly. 

“ You are right. And you are — ? ” and here 
the lieutenant paused. 

“ I am Lieutenant Porter. I think you ought 
to remember me.” 

“Oh, yes; I remember you now. You come 
from the same town that Poole does,” said Ge- 
bauer slowly. 

“ I suppose both of you thought it was a good 
joke to throw that dirt down on us? ” continued 
Dave, eying the other lieutenant squarely. 

“ Oh, soldiers have got to have a little fun, you 


i 64 DAVE PORTER’S WAR HONORS 

know/’ said Gebauer coolly, and, taking a ciga- 
rette from a case, he started to light it. 

“ It’s no fun to throw lime dust around,” 
growled Phil, who was still rubbing his eyes. 
“ For two pins, Nat Poole, I’d give you the 
thrashing of your life.” 

“ There will be no fighting done here ! ” cried 
Lieutenant Gebauer sternly. 

“ Perhaps you had a hand in this. Lieutenant? ” 
said Dave quickly. 

“Ha! do you accuse me. Porter?” and the 
other officer drew himself up proudly. 

“ I know there were two lots of that stuff came 
down on our heads. Did Poole throw both of 
them? ” 

“ No, I didn’t! ” was the quick reply. “I — 
I — ” and then Nat stopped. 

“ I don’t see why you should make such a row 
over a little fun,” remarked Gebauer, puffing away 
at his cigarette. “ It’s dull enough around here. 
We’ve got to stir things up a little.” 

“ Well, after this when you stir things up, you 
keep away from me,” said Dave coldly. 

“ Do you mean that as a threat. Porter? ” 

“ I mean that as a warning.” 

There was a moment’s pause, and twice Lieu- 
tenant Gebauer made a move as if to speak. But 
then he merely shrugged his shoulders and flipped 
the ashes from his cigarette. 


A PERSONAL AFFAIR 165 

“ Life is too short to quarrel, Porter,” he re- 
marked finally. “ Have it your own way.” 

“ I intend to have it my own way.” Dave 
stepped a bit closer. “ I believe you know well 
enough. Lieutenant Gebauer, that I have a little 
personal account to settle with you. But that can 
wait. Just the same, I want you and this cowardly 
young fellow here to understand that you have got 
to keep your distance. Otherwise there is going 
to be real trouble for both of you.” 

“ See here! You — you — can’t — er — 
threaten me like this ! ” stammered Gebauer, not 
knowing how to proceed. 

“ Come on, boys; I’ve had my say,” said Dave 
to his chums, utterly ignoring the splutterings of 
Gebauer. Nat was mumbling something under 
his breath, but what it was, nobody understood. 

Then Dave and his friends left the bridge and 
the ruins around it and went on their way. 


CHAPTER XVII 


AT THE TRENCHES 

The following week was such a busy one for 
Dave that Lieutenant Gebauer and Nat Poole 
were practically forgotten. The engineers were 
moved somewhat to the north of the position they 
had occupied, and were there set to work at their 
usual task of building roads and bridges. 

“ One thing is certain,” said Dave, one day 
when he and the others had knocked off for dinner. 
“ Whatever ground our soldiers have taken they 
have managed to keep.” 

“ Oh, we don’t know how to retreat,” returned 
Phil, with a grin. 

“ I understand some new troops are coming to 
the front here,” said Roger, who had just returned 
from the other end of the roadway they were con- 
structing. “ I met a corporal I know slightly, and 
he was telling me about them.” And he men- 
tioned the number of the regiment. 

“ Why, Roger, that’s the command to which 
Nat Poole belongs! ” cried Dave. 

“ Are you sure? ” 

“ Yes; I took particular notice. And Gebauer 

i66 


AT THE TRENCHES 167 

belongs, too. In fact, he is a lieutenant of Nat’s 
company.” 

“ Well, I’m mighty sorry to hear that they are 
coming anywhere near us,” was Phil’s comment, 
and he looked thoughtfully at our hero as he 
spoke. 

“ I am sorry, too, in one way,” answered Dave 
promptly. ‘‘As soon as Nat Poole shows him- 
self there is bound to be some sort of trouble.” 

“ And what about that Lieutenant Gebauer? ” 
questioned Roger. “ I know well enough you’ve 
got it in for him, Dave.” 

“ If Dave has, it’s because Gebauer deserves 
it,” remarked Phil. 

“ Oh, if he doesn’t bother me I won’t bother 
him,” answered our hero. “ Just the same, if I 
get a chance I’m going to let him know I am aware 
of how he acted in Crumville, and that I don’t give 
him any credit for causing Jessie trouble.” 

The weather now was all that could be desired, 
and the work of building roads and bridges 
progressed rapidly. On some of the bridge work 
there was considerable planning to be done, and 
Dave had to spend a good many hours over some 
blueprints. But he had the satisfaction of ac- 
complishing what he had set out to do, and re- 
ceived some warm praise from Captain Obray. 

“ I knew it was in you. Porter,” said the captain 
heartily. “ You are certainly a natural-born civil 


1 68 DAVE PORTER’S WAR HONORS 


engineer. I predict after this war is over that 
you’ll make quite a hit with the Mentor Construc- 
tion Company or some other big concern.” 

During those days Dave sent several letters 
home and received one communication, this time 
from Caspar Potts. The old professor wrote in 
a very trembling hand, and the communication 
consisted of less than a dozen lines. But brief as 
it was, it went straight to our hero’s heart. 

“ Dear old man! ” he murmured, after he had 
read the letter several times. “ If ever there was 
a good old soul in this world, that soul is Caspar 
Potts.” And he closed his eyes for a moment as 
a vision passed through his mind of the white- 
haired and trembling professor sitting in the 
Wadsworth library, adjusting his gold-rimmed 
spectacles to pore over one of his precious vol- 
umes. 

The new troops to come to that vicinity arrived 
three days later while the engineers were hard at 
work. The company to which Nat Poole and 
Lieutenant Gebauer belonged were located in one 
of the second-line trenches, and immediately pro- 
ceeded to make themselves as much at home as 
possible. Most of the soldiers took all the in- 
conveniences good-naturedly, but the son of the 
money lender of Crumville did his usual share of 
grumbling. 

“ It’s a rotten place to stay in,” was Nat’s com- 


AT THE TRENCHES 


169 

ment. “ I don’t see why they can’t have the engi- 
neers fix up some really good quarters for us fel- 
lows.” 

He was speaking to Gebauer at the time. Al- 
though Gebauer was a commissioned officer and 
Nat was only a private, the two, for some un- 
known reason, were very friendly. They had 
many tastes in common, and always acted chummy 
when no one else was present. 

“ Well, don’t blame me, Nat,” replied the lieu- 
tenant, bringing out his cigarette-case and supply- 
ing himself. “ Have a cigarette. Maybe that 
will help you forget your troubles,” and he gave 
a sickly grin. 

“ I wonder how much longer this war is going 
to last.” 

“ That remains to be found out. Personally, 
I think the Germans are going to give us the fight 
of our lives,” continued Gebauer, in a somewhat 
lower voice. 

“ Don’t you think we can lick ’em? ” demanded 
Nat. 

Lieutenant Gebauer shrugged his shoulders. 
“ I’m not doing any thinking along those lines. 
I’m simply obeying orders. I guess we both know 
what we think of this war, anyhow,” and closing 
one eye he looked at Nat suggestively. 

“We sure do! It was a howling shame to 
drag us over here, three thousand miles from 


170 DAVE PORTER’S WAR HONORS 

0 

home, to fight,” grumbled the money lender’s son. 

“ Sh-sh! Don’t talk so loud, Nat,” murmured 
the lieutenant warningly. “ If anybody heard 
you, you’d get into hot water.” 

“ I don’t care I It’s true, isn’t it? ” 

“ Every word. I’d rather be back home right 
now than here. I think I could make a barrel of 
money out of our business in spite of the war. 
And what am I getting out of this? A measly 
lieutenant’s pay ! ” 

“ Humph ! you get a pile more than I do as a 
common soldier.” Nat looked at his companion 
slyly. “ I guess you’d like it first rate to be back 
in Crumville again with Jessie Wadsworth, 
wouldn’t you ? ” 

“ Oh, I don’t know. That would depend on 
how she treated me.” 

‘‘ You two didn’t get along very well during the 
last few days of your stay, did you? ” 

“ Oh, we got along well enough. But I’ve got 
to be going now. There is a whole lot I’ve got 
to do,” continued the lieutenant hastily, and then 
walked away. 

“ I’ll bet you got the cold shoulder somehow,” 
murmured Nat, gazing after the retreating officer. 
“ Just the same. I’m sorry you didn’t get in with 
Jessie, and put a spoke in Dave Porter’s wheel.” 

Two days later one of the working units of the 
fighting engineers was sent back to do some work 


AT THE TRENCHES 


171 

on one of the trenches, part of which had caved in, 
blocking up the entrance to a dugout. Dave was in 
command of the men, and, as it happened, the 
dugout which had suffered was the one in which 
Gebauer and a number of other officers were 
quartered. Gebauer was in very ill humor, for 
his cot and some of his extra clothing had been 
covered with a shower of dirt and stones. 

“ That was a fine way to build a dugout,” he 
grumbled in Dave’s hearing. “ If I couldn’t do 
better than that as an engineer. I’d resign,” and 
he looked directly at our hero. 

“ These trenches and dugouts were not made 
by our unit,” returned Dave. “ Just the same, I 
consider they were built as well as circumstances 
permitted. These are only temporary quarters, 
as you know. And such an accident as this is 
liable to happen any time. We’ll cut down some 
saplings and limbs and shore this up, and fix some 
of the stonework, and then it will be as good as 
ever, or better.” 

“ Humph I maybe it will be,” grumbled Ge- 
bauer, and turned his back on the engineers. 

This was the beginning of new trouble with 
not only Gebauer, but Nat Poole also. Both of 
these unworthies showed plainly that they did not 
like Dave or his chums at all, and they did every- 
thing they possibly could to annoy our hero. Of 
course, as a private, Nat was somewhat at a dis- 


172 DAVE PORTER’S WAR HONORS 

advantage, but Gebauer invariably tried to show 
his authority, especially when the higher officers 
were absent. He attempted to dictate to Dave, 
and this brought on a very animated discussion. 

“ See here. Lieutenant Gebauer,” said the young 
engineer finally, “ you tend to your business and 
ril tend to mine. I know what my duty here is, 
and you have no authority to interfere with it.” 

“ Oh, you don’t have to ride a high horse. 
Porter,” growled Gebauer. 

“ I am not riding a high horse. If I were do- 
ing that, I would probably tell you a few things 
that you would hate to hear.” 

“What about?” demanded the othei: hotly. 
They had walked down one of the trenches and 
were out of hearing of the others. 

“ Well, if you must know, about the way you 
made a fool of yourself in Crumville. I have had 
the particulars of how you acted, and I must 
say you played the part of anything but a gentle- 
man.” 

“ Do you mean to insult me ? ” 

“ I am not going to try to do that, Gebauer. 
It would probably be too much of a job.” 

“ Say, I guess you don’t know who you are talk- 
ing to ! ” 

“ I do know. And if you think you can intimi- 
date me, you are mistaken.” 

“ My, but you are getting on your high horse ! ” 


AT THE TRENCHES 


173 


sneered Gebauer. “ I must say you are showing 
your poorhouse training.” 

“ What’s that? ” and now a sudden flash of fire 
came into Dave’s eyes and he caught the other 
lieutenant by the arm. 

“You let go of me, Porter!” and Gebauer 
shrank back in sudden alarm. 

“ I won’t let any one talk to me like that,” said 
Dave, firmly. 

At that moment came an unexpected interrup- 
tion. There was a call from above the trench, 
and several officers appeared, including the major 
of the command to which Gebauer belonged. 
Those below at once saluted, and there the sudden 
quarrel came to just as rapid a termination. But 
Gebauer glared bitterly at our hero as the latter 
took his departure. 

This meeting upset Dave for the rest of the 
day — so much so that he could hardly attend to 
his duties. Phil and Roger, as well as Ben, no- 
ticed this, and during their time off in the evening 
he told his chums of what had occurred. 

“ Gee, Dave, it’s a wonder you didn’t smash 
him in the face when he talked to you like that! ” 
cried Ben. 

“ I felt like doing it, Ben; and it was all I could 
do to control myself,” returned our hero. “ But 
you know what the regulations are about figliting, 
especially here at the front.” 


174 DAVE PORTER’S WAR HONORS 

“ Just the same, this Gebauer ought to be 
taught a lesson,” was Phil’s comment. 

“ I don’t see why they made such a fellow as 
that a lieutenant,” came from Roger. “It’s a 
shame, with so many good men around! ” 

“ I don’t think Gebauer will get much higher in 
the army,” said Dave. “ If he treats the men 
under him as he has treated us, sooner or later 
they will all hate him.” 

“ Do you know, he looks to me as if he might be 
sort of pro-German,” remarked Ben thoughtfully. 

“ Well, one thing is sure — ” began Dave, when 
a sudden alarm broke out which ended the talk 
right then and there. 

The alarm was followed by a sudden burst of 
artillery, which soon increased in intensity, while 
the night was lit up by the flare of rockets and 
“ flaming onions,” as they were called. 

“ I wonder what that means 1 ” cried Shadow, 
as he came running up to the others. 

“ I think it means some sort of a fight,” an- 
swered Dave. “ But whether we are going to 
attack or the Germans, remains to be seen.” 


CHAPTER XVIII 


THE GERMAN PRISONER 

There was fighting that night all along the 
line, but nothing in the way of a battle developed 
and the engineers did not participate in the con- 
test any further than that they were called on to 
repair some bridges along the roadway where the 
shell-fire of the enemy made several telling hits. 

“ The Huns are certainly showing some strong 
resistance to our advance,” remarked Roger, 
while the bombardment was going on. 

“ Oh, I shouldn’t be surprised if they contested 
every foot of the ground,” returned Dave. 
“ They thought they were going to walk right into 
Paris, and it makes them more than mad to be 
driven back this way.” 

“ One thing is certain,” said Phil. “ These old 
Hindenburg trenches are marvels of complete- 
ness.” 

“ I heard of one German dugout that was fitted 
out like a first-class hotel, with a bath and even a 
billiard-table I 'Those high muck-a-mucks cer- 
tainly take care of themselves.” 

175 


176 DAVE PORTER’S WAR HONORS 

“ Yes, and they take mighty good care that 
they are not hit, too ! ” added Ben. “ They let 
their common soldiers take all the hard knocks. 
You very seldom hear of anybody connected with 
the royal families getting even a scratch.” 

Early in the morning there was a sortie on the 
part of one of the American battalions. They 
had located some Germans hidden in a patch of 
wood, and after some fierce fighting succeeded in 
surrounding a part of the enemy and making them 
prisoners. A little later these fellows, to the num- 
ber of thirty, with a lieutenant and a sergeant, 
were marched to the American rear. 

At the time the prisoners were brought in, Dave 
and his detail were at work on the roadway which 
the prisoners and those in charge of them used. 
Along this roadway was also stationed the com- 
pany of soldiers to which Lieutenant Gebauer and 
Nat Poole belonged. 

As Dave went about his duties he passed Ge- 
bauer and Nat several times. Both of them glared 
at him, but no words passed. However, five min- 
utes later Dave saw Nat approach the lieutenant, 
and an earnest conversation followed. Both 
looked several times toward our hero, and Dave 
felt certain that the pair were talking about him. 

“ And it’s dollars to doughnuts they are not say- 
ing anything very nice,” mused our hero. “ Prob- 
ably they are plotting as to what they can do to get 


THE GERMAN PRISONER 


177 


the better of me. I suppose I had better keep my 
eyes open as long as they are around.” 

A little later he had occasion to give Phil and 
Ben some directions, and the latter called Dave to 
one side. 

“ I suppose you’ve noticed that Nat Poole and 
Lieutenant Gebauer are around? ” 

“Yes indeed! I have passed them several 
times, Ben.” 

“ I went by them, too, and I heard your name 
mentioned. I believe they are hatching up some- 
thing.” 

“ If I were you I wouldn’t stand any nonsense 
from either of them,” put in Phil. 

“ I don’t intend to 1 ” 

“ Don’t you think you had better report them? ” 

“No; I intend to fight this out alone. Of 
course, if they do anything that is too outrageous. 
I’ll have to mention it to those higher up.” 

A few minutes later it was announced that the 
German prisoners were coming, and, as was cus- 
tomary, all the Americans in that vicinity lined the 
roadway to get a look at those who had been cap- 
tured. 

For the most part the prisoners appeared a 
silent and thoughtful crowd. A few of them were 
decidedly sullen, as if ready to break out at any 
moment, and these the guards watched closely, for 
it was remembered that on one occasion a prisoner 


178 DAVE PORTER’S WAR HONORS 

had suddenly gone violently insane, killing one of: 
his captors and then inflicting injury on himself 
from which he had later died. On another occa- 
sion several prisoners had made a wild dash for 
liberty but had been shot down before they could 
get any great distance. 

When the prisoners came up close to where 
Dave and his chums were standing, the officer in 
charge for some reason or other called a tem- 
porary halt. Then began a good-natured gibing 
between the soldiers on both sides, a few of the 
Americans being able to talk German and one or 
two of the prisoners answering in broken English. 

Dave was looking over the brought-in men and 
noting how starved and ill-clad they were when 
he became interested in one man who was gazing 
with wide-open eyes at the Americans. Follow- 
ing this man’s gaze, Dave saw that the prisoner 
was looking intently at Lieutenant Gebauer. 

“Gebauer! Max Gebauer! What are you 
doing here?” called out the German in his gut- 
tural language. 

At the mention of his name Lieutenant Gebauer 
gazed at the prisoner, and Dave felt certain that 
he started as he did so. Then, with swift steps, 
Gebauer came to the prisoner’s side. There was 
a low exchange of words which Dave could not 
catch, even had he known the German language 
better than was the case. Gebauer looked much 


THE GERMAN PRISONER 179 

annoyed, while the prisoner’s features betrayed 
great astonishment. 

A short argument ensued, but in the midst of 
this the American lieutenant suddenly put up his 
hand and motioned for the prisoner to keep quiet. 
Then, as he stepped back, he made other motions 
as if to draw a wallet from his pocket and count 
out imaginary bank-notes. Then he placed a fin- 
ger across his lips, turned and walked away. 

Roger, Phil, and Ben, as well as Dave, saw all 
of these actions, and were of course tremendously 
interested. They realized at once that Gebauer 
and the German prisoner were well acquainted. 

“ It’s as plain as day that Gebauer wants that 
fellow to keep his mouth shut about something,” 
remarked Phil, when the prisoners had resumed 
their march to the rear. 

“ Yes. And it’s equally plain that he proposes 
to pay the fellow for doing it,” returned Dave. 

“ What do you suppose it is all about? ” came, 
with a puzzled look, from Ben. 

“ I’m sure I don’t know,” answered the young 
lieutenant. 

“ I wonder if it’s possible that Gebauer is some 
sort of a spy and that soldier knows it,” mused 
Roger. 

“ Anything is possible, Roger. But that fel- 
low may be nothing more than some business ac- 
quaintance. More than likely the Gebauer Jew- 


i8o DAVE PORTER’S WAR HONORS 

elry Company had a connection in Germany previ- 
ous to the war — a great many of those German- 
American firms had. That fellow may be noth- 
ing but a business friend.” 

“ But why would he make a motion as if to pay 
him money and motion to him to keep his mouth 
shut? ” questioned Phil. 

“ Maybe Gebauer doesn’t want folks generally 
to know he had a German connection,” said Ben. 

“ Don’t you think this ought to be reported? ” 
questioned Roger. 

I’ll speak to Captain Obray about it,” an- 
swered Dave. “ And then I am going to see if I 
can’t get a chance to talk to that German pris- 
oner.” 

“ Can you talk enough German to do it, 
Dave?” 

“ I can get an interpreter.” 

Our hero lost no time in mentioning what he 
had seen to Captain Obray, and that afternoon 
obtained permission to visit the place where the 
German prisoners were being kept that night. 
This was in a barbed-wire compound hastily laid 
out for that purpose by some of the engineers. 

Dave had taken a good look at the German 
who had spoken to Max Gebauer, and he had 
little trouble in picking the fellow out from the 
one hundred and twenty men who filled the wire 
enclosure. He took Roger with him, and also 


THE GERMAN PRISONER i8i 

one of the engineers who could speak fairly good 
German. 

He found the prisoner to be a man of about 
forty, tall and thin, with light hair and watery 
blue eyes. When questioned he gave his name as 
August Besswig, and said that he had been a book- 
keeper for a large manufacturing firm in Frank- 
fort. 

“ Ask him how it is that he happens to know a 
man by the name of Max Gebauer,” said Dave to 
the interpreter. 

When this question was put to the prisoner he 
looked rather disturbed and then shrugged his 
shoulders. 

“Max Gebauer? Who is he?” he returned 
after a pause. 

“ He is the man you were speaking to on your 
way to this camp,” said the interpreter, after some 
words with Dave. 

“ Oh, that man I I don’t know him very well.” 

“How do you happen to know him at all?” 
was the next question put. 

“ Well, it’s this way, if you must know. Some 
years ago I worked for a large jewelry firm in 
Germany. We did business with the Gebauer firm 
in America. That is how I got to know Mr. 
Max Gebauer. He used to come to our place 
once a year or so on business.” 

“ Did he come after the war broke out? ” 


i 82 DAVE PORTER’S WAR HONORS 


“ He was there when that happened, but he 
got out very quickly,” answered August Besswig. 

After that he was questioned at some length 
regarding Gebauer, but made evasive answers. 
It was evident that he knew something about 
Gebauer which he did not wish to mention, but 
what it was there was no telling. At last Dave 
had the interpreter bring the interview to an end. 

“ That German prisoner is a foxy one,” was 
Roger’s comment. “ I believe he could tell a 
great deal if he wanted to.” 

“ That’s exactly my idea, too,” answered Dave. 
“ One thing is certain, he and Gebauer have some- 
thing in common.” 

“ Exactly, Dave. And the next question is — 
has that to do with the present or the past? ” 

“ Oh, I’m inclined to think it has something 
to do with the past,” replied Dave. “ From 
what I can find out, this Besswig is nothing but 
a private soldier who was forced into the army. 
That being so, it is not likely that he would have 
anything to do with Gebauer if the latter were 
up to some shady work for the Government. I 
think it concerns something that took place in the 
past, and it looks to me as if it was something which 
Gebauer wants this Besswig to keep quiet about.” 

Dave thought he might have another interview 
with the prisoner later; but on the following day 
August Besswig was marched off to a camp twenty 


THE GERMAN PRISONER 183 

miles distant and he had no opportunity for fur- 
ther talk with the fellow. He tried to keep an 
eye on Gebauer, but his duties as an engineer 
prevented this, and consequently he did not know 
an important fact, which was that two days later 
Gebauer got a twenty-four-hours leave of absence 
and hurried off to find out what had become of 
August Besswig and to go to see the prisoner. 

When Gebauer came back to camp he was in 
both a thoughtful and an ugly mood. He smoked 
one cigarette after another in a nervous manner, 
and then interviewed Nat Poole. 

“ Your friend Porter seems to be a pretty fresh 
sort of individual,” grumbled the lieutenant, as 
he paced up and down in front of Nat. 

“ Don’t call him a friend of mine. Max,” was 
the quick reply of the money lender’s son. “ I 
like him about as much as I like a hop-toad.” 

“ He’s doing his best to get me into trouble,” 
continued Gebauer. 

“Why, what has he done now?” questioned 
Nat, with sudden interest. 

“ Oh, a whole lot of things. Do you remem- 
ber those prisoners that came in a few days ago? ” 

“ Yes.” 

“ Well, I happen to know one of those fellows 
very slightly — a fellow who was connected with 
a jewelry concern in Germany with which our 
concern in Philadelphia used to do a little business. 


1 84 DAVE PORTER’S WAR HONORS 

“ Well, Porter saw me say a few words in a 
friendly way to that fellow, and he at once had 
the prisoner interviewed and did his best to make 
out that I had some sort of a German connection. 
Of course, he’s doing his best to get me in Dutch 
with the military authorities! ” stormed the lieu- 
tenant. 

“ Well, he didn’t find out anything to your dis- 
advantage, did he? ” questioned Nat. 

“Of course not! How could he? I haven’t 
done anything wrong! ” 

“ Well, then, what are you afraid of? ” 

“What am I afraid of? Don’t I know the 
kind of fellow Dave Porter is? He wouldn’t 
like anything better than to cook something up 
with that prisoner so as to get me in bad. I know 
him! Pve a good mind to fix him! ” 

“ Let’s do it! ” Nat’s eyes began to shine with 
expectancy. “ Fd like nothing better than to put 
one over on him. He’s getting altogether too 
big for his boots. Now that he is a lieutenant, 
he thinks he can lord it over everybody. I 
suppose when he gets back to Crumville he’ll put 
on airs something fierce. According to the stories 
he’ll tell, he’ll have been the one to win the whole 
war.” 

After this the two continued their conversation 
for the best part of an hour. Both were exceed- 
ingly bitter against Dave, Nat on account of the 


THE GERMAN PRISONER 185 

many things which had happened ever since he had 
gone to Oak Hall, and Gebauer because of the 
way he had been given the cold shoulder by Jessie 
Wadsworth. 

“ If you are game to do it, Nat, I think we can 
put a good big ont over on Porter,” said Gebauer 
at last. “ Of course, it will require a little nerve 
to do it.” 

“ What do you propose to do? ” 

Oh, that isn’t exactly clear in my mind yet. 
But I’ll hatch out something before long. But 
how about you? Are you willing to stand by 
me? ” 

‘‘ Sure I am I Unless, of course, you should 
want to go too far,” answered Nat Poole, his 
natural cowardice suddenly asserting itself. 

“ Oh, we won’t go too far. We’ll only do 
something that will get him in bad with those 
higher up. Then maybe he’ll be placed in dis- 
grace, and possibly reduced to the ranks.” 

“Gee, that sounds good to me!” cried Nat. 
“ Let’s go and do it! ” 

“ Then you’ll work with me? ” 

“ I sure will! And the sooner you get at it, 
the better.” 


CHAPTER XIX 


AT THE BROOK 

The great World War which had now raged 
so furiously for four years was rapidly approach- 
ing its climax. The Germans had been driven 
from the vicinity of Paris, they had suffered their 
great defeats on the Marne and at Verdun at 
the hands of the entente Allies, and now the 
American troops had beaten them back at Chateau 
Thierry and other points, while the Italians were 
hammering the Austrians mercilessly in the moun- 
tains of upper Italy. 

In the meanwhile there had been naval battles 
in the North Sea and the Mediterranean, and 
the extraordinary submarine campaign of the Ger- 
mans had proved to be more or less a failure. 

Our soldiers were coming over the Atlantic as 
fast as our transports could carry them, and what 
was equally important, we were sending immense 
quantities of food, ammunition and other supplies 
to those who were fighting this tremendous war 
with us. 

With the Americans and their Allies thus push- 
186 


AT THE BROOK 


187 

ing the Germans back at every available oppor- 
tunity, there was plenty of work for the engineers. 
More than once Dave and those under him found 
themselves working ten and twelve and even four- 
teen hours on a stretch, and doing this in places 
which were as dangerous as they were uncomfort- 
able. More than once they were out when it was 
raining furiously, and on two occasions after an 
early breakfast they got nothing more to eat until 
nightfall. 

“ If anybody thinks being an army engineer is 
a cinch, he’s got another guess coming to him,” 
remarked Ben one evening, after an extra hard 
day’s labor. 

“ You never said a truer thing that that, Ben,” 
returned Phil. “ Gosh I how my back does 
ache!” 

“ I know what I’m going to do,” put in Roger. 
“ I’m going bathing. There is nothing that re- 
freshes me half so much as a bath after a hard 
day’s work.” 

“ I think I’ll go with you,” said Dave. “ I 
saw a dandy spot to-day, while we were fixing that 
bridge.” 

And that’s just the place I had in mind,” said 
the senator’s son. 

When there was a favorable opportunity the 
engineers often took a little time off to go bathing 
in one of the rivers or brooks that was handy, 


1 88 DAVE PORTER’S WAR HONORS 


taking care, of course, to select only a place where 
the water was clean and pure — not an easy thing 
to do in a locality where so many dead bodies 
of soldiers were to be found. 

Dave and all of his chums from Oak Hall 
formed the party which went bathing. They had 
found a tributary to one of the larger streams, 
and this was fed mostly by springs. The water 
was consequently quite cold, but was absolutely 
pure, and for this they were thankful. They lost 
no time in disrobing, and then one after another 
plunged in. 

“ I’m going up the stream a way and do a bit 
of exploring,” said Ben presently, and sloshed 
along through the water and over the rocks. 
And presently one after another followed until 
only Dave was left behind. He was more inter- 
ested in getting a good bath than in doing any 
exploring, and, sitting down on a rock in the water, 
he proceeded to make himself just as much at 
home as though he was in one of the bathtubs at 
the Wadsworth mansion. 

Although Dave did not know it, the departure 
of the Oak Hall chums for the bathing-place had 
been noticed by Nat Poole, who chanced along 
at that particular time. Walking through the 
brushwood, Nat presently approached the place 
where the young engineers had gone in bathing. 

“ Gee, I guess here is a chance to play a good 


AT THE BROOK 189 

trick on those fellows,” observed the money 
lender’s son, with a sickly grin. 

Not far from where Nat was standing rested 
Dave’s uniform and his other garments. Watch- 
ing his opportunity, when Dave was not looking 
in that direction, Nat leaped forth from behind 
the bushes and gathered up the things in his arms. 

The rascal might have escaped undetected had 
it not been for a mishap which overtook him when 
he least expected it. With the uniform and other 
things piled high in his arms he could not see 
where he was stepping, and suddenly one foot 
went down in a crevice between the rocks, and he 
pitched headlong. 

The noise Nat made was not great, but it was 
sufficient to attract Dave’s attention, and looking 
in that direction he saw in an instant what was 
occurring. 

“ Hi, you ! Drop those things ! ” he cried, and 
then, leaping up, he made a dash for the bank of 
the stream. 

Much startled, Nat Poole arose to his feet. 
He had now no longer any desire to take the 
garments, his one thought being to get away with- 
out being recognized. So far Dave had not seen 
his face and now he did what he could to hide 
his features. 

But the young lieutenant did not intend to al- 
low the would-be joker to escape thus easily. 


190 DAVE PORTER’S WAR HONORS 

Thinking it might be somebody from his own 
command, he leaped quickly over the rocks and 
caught Nat by the arm just as the latter was try- 
ing to worm his way into the bushes. 

“Nat Poole I” he ejaculated, as he brought 
the soldier around with a twist of the arm. “ So 
this is what you are up to, eh? 

“ Aw ! it was only a joke,” pleaded the money 
lender’s son. 

“ You were going to run away with my uniform 
and all the rest of myf things ! ” 

“ Didn’t I say it was only a joke? Can’t you 
take a little fun, Dave Porter?” 

“ I don’t like that kind of fun, Nat Poole! I 
would have cut a fine spectacle if you had gotten 
away with my clothing. You just come along 
and explain yourself; ” and thus speaking, Dave 
dragged the unwilling soldier out from the bushes 
and down to the side of the stream. Then he 
let out a low but well-known whistle, to which 
his chums immediately responded, that having 
been the “ get-together ” call at Oak Hall. 

“ Hello, it’s Nat Poole! ” cried Phil. 

“ What are you doing here, Nat? ” questioned 
Roger. 

“ I just caught him trying to steal my things,” 
explained Dave. 

“ I wasn’t going to steal ’em! ” stormed Nat. 
“ I was just going to hide ’em behind the bushes.” 


AT THE BROOK 


191 

“ He’d have gotten away with them if he hadn’t 
stumbled,” continued our hero. “ I heard the 
noise, and I was just in time to grab him.” 

“ He ought to be reported for that,” said Ben. 

“ Humph ! that’s just like you fellows — report 
a fellow just for having a bit of fun.” 

“ I don’t think I’ll take the trouble to report 
you, Nat,” answered Dave coolly. “ It isn’t 
worth it. But after this, I want you to keep your 
distance. If you don’t, you’ll get something that 
you won’t like.” And having thus delivered him- 
self, Dave gave Nat Poole a vigorous shake and 
then gave him such a shove that he stumbled back- 
ward several steps and then went flat on his back 
in some low brushwood. 

Such vigorous treatment aroused all of Nat 
Poole’s ire, and scrambling to his feet he rushed 
toward Dave. 

“ You’re not going to treat me that way I ” he 
bawled. “I won’t stand it!” And then he 
shoved his fist under our hero’s nose. 

This was too much for Dave to stand, and dis- 
robed as he was, he leaped at the money lender’s 
son, knocking the fist to one side and then deliver- 
ing a stinging blow which took Nat squarely in 
the chin, causing him to stagger back several paces. 

“ Now you go on about your business, Nat 
Poole I ” he said sternly. “ And you remember 
what I told you 1 ” 


192 DAVE PORTER’S WAR HONORS 

You just wait, Dave Porter! I’ll fix you 
yet I ” 

“ Nat, shut up and do what Dave told you,” 
put in Roger. “You are the meanest pill that 
ever came out of a box. Go on! ” and he waved 
his hand threateningly. 

“ You are a disgrace to the uniform you are 
wearing,” added Phil. 

“ Oh, sure ! There is no use of my talking, 
with all of you against me!” grumbled Nat. 
“ Just the same. I’ll get square some day, you 
mark my words ! ” And having thus delivered 
himself, Nat Poole slunk away and was soon lost 
to sight in the brushwood. 

“ How I would like to have a fellow like that 
for a brother,” remarked Shadow sarcastically. 

“ His father must be proud of him,” was Bus- 
ter’s comment. 

“ He and his father are two of a kind,” ex- 
plained Ben. “ At the start of the war they were 
both slackers. The only member of the family 
that is worth while is Mrs. Poole. She has done 
a lot for the Red Cross and other war organiza- 
tions, and I am mighty sorry that she has to put 
up with such folks as Nat and Mr. Poole.” 

“ You’ll have to keep your eyes open, Dave,” 
observed Phil. “ Nat will do his best to square 
accounts, and he’ll probably get Gebauer to aid 
him.” 


AT THE BROOK 


193 


“ It’s a pity Nat doesn’t try to make something 
of himself while he is in the army,” observed 
Dave. ” He has just as good a chance as any of 
us.” 

“ It isn’t in him,” said Buster. “ You can’t 
build a marble palace out of mud.” 

“ Oh, say ! Speaking of mud, puts me in mind 
of a story I heard yesterday,” cried Shadow. 
“ Three Americans were in the end of a trench, 
and they were completely surrounded by Germans. 
They were out of ammunition and didn’t know 
what to do. The trench was full of mud and 
water, and as the Germans came down to make 
them prisoners the three Americans grabbed up 
some buckets which were handy, filled them with 
mud and water, and let the Germans have the 
dose full in the face. Then they leaped out and 
ran for their lives. One of them was killed, but 
the other two got away.” 

“ They certainly took chances,” answered 
Dave; “but that’s the American style.” 

Making his way through the brushwood, Nat 
Poole presently came out on the forest road, and 
then lost no time in hurrying back to camp. He 
was in anything but a good humor, and his face 
showed it. 

“ Well, Nat, why the thunder-cloud look? ” 
queried Lieutenant Gebauer, when he saw his 
crony. 


194 DAVE PORTER’S WAR HONORS 

“ Oh, I had another run-in with that Dave 
Porter,” growled the money lender’s son. “ Say, 
that fellow makes me tired all over ! ” 

‘‘ I don’t think he makes you any more tired 
than he does me,” said the lieutenant, bringing 
out his ever-present cigarette-case and lighting up. 

“ I thought you were going to think out some- 
thing by which we could get square with him? ” 
continued Nat. “ I know what I’d like to do I ” 

“ What?” 

“ I’d like to disgrace him! And say. Max, if 
we could get him disgraced maybe Jessie Wads- 
worth wouldn’t have anything more to do with 
him, and that would give you a chance.” 

To this the lieutenant did not reply at once. 
He blew a ring of smoke into the air, took another 
puff, and threw the cigarette on the ground. 

“ I might as well tell you,” he said finally. 
“ I’ve been watching Porter every opportunity I 
get. Sooner or later our chance will come. 
When it does, I want you to be ready to act with 
me. 

“ I told you before that I would do that.” 

“ I happened to hear some conversation yester- 
day that put me to thinking,” pursued Lieutenant 
Gebauer. “ The engineers are going to move in 
a day or two. They are going to lay out a road 
in the vicinity of some abandoned coal or iron 
mines. I rather think they’ll have their head- 


AT THE BROOK 


195 


quarters in the mines, just as the Germans were 
quartered there when they were in that vicinity.” 

“Well, what if they do go to those mines?” 
questioned Nat. 

“ I think it’s a pretty lonely sort of region around 
those mines,” returned Gebauer. “ And that be- 
ing so, we may have more of a chance to get at 
Porter. If he went off to explore any of the 
mines — or anything like that — we might get a 
chance to follow him. Anyway, I am going to 
keep my eyes wide open at every opportunity. 
And I want you to do the same. We’ll never 
catch him unless we watch him like a cat watches 
a mouse.” 

“ Gee, if only we could get the best of him! ” 
sighed Nat. “ I’ve wanted to do it ever since we 
went to boarding school together.” 

“ The time will come, don’t worry. Sooner or 
later, Nat, we’ll get Dave Porter just where we 
want him. And when that time comes — well, 
he had better look out for himself, that’s all I ” 
concluded Lieutenant Gebauer. 


CHAPTER XX 


ATTACKED IN THE DARK 

‘‘ These old mines must have been worked for 
all they were worth.” 

“ That’s the way it looks to me, Roger. And 
yet I’ve no doubt that with up-to-date mining 
methods they might get a good deal more out of 
these places.” 

“ Oh, I know that, Dave. Modern mining 
machinery has accomplished wonders for the 
mines in the United States.” 

About a week had passed since Dave had had 
the quarrel with Nat Poole at the brook, and 
during that time the engineers had been moved 
forward to the vicinity of the abandoned mines 
mentioned by Lieutenant Gebauer. Here they 
were busy repairing the roads which had once 
been used by the Germans and left by them in a 
most deplorable condition. Trees and huge 
masses of rocks blocked the way and great 
masses of abandoned wire entanglements had been 
strung around wherever it was thought they would 
impede the progress of the Americans. 

It was bad enough to get rid of the rocks and 
196 


ATTACKED IN THE DARK 197 

the trees, but it was even worse to dispose of the 
wire. Much of this was rusty, and they had to be 
very careful how they handled the stuff for fear 
of being scratched and getting their clothing torn 
to ribbons. Even as it was, the most substantial 
of the uniforms worn by the engineers did not 
last very long, and had to be replaced. 

The abandoned mines were spread over a large 
area, and because of the war were in such condi- 
tion that only a small portion of the various pas- 
sageways were used by the Americans. The engi- 
neers had their quarters in one long passageway, 
which some one had named The Subway, while 
some of the infantry were quartered not a long 
distance off in what was known as The Tube. 

These quarters were, as the chums had agreed, 
perfectly safe from bombardment by the enemy. 
But they were rather damp and chilly, and were 
invaded by hordes of mine rats with which the 
troops had constant battles. 

“ My gracious ! I don’t know but that the rats 
are just about as bad as the cooties,” cried Phil, 
one day after one of the rodents had run over 
him while he was trying to take a nap. 

“ Don’t say a word about the cooties ! ” Ben 
returned, scratching his back on one of the upright 
posts in the mine. “ I never thought I was going 
to be subject to anything like this when I joined 
the army.” 


198 DAVE PORTER’S WAR HONORS 

‘‘ Oh, forget it and look pleasant 1 ” cried Dave, 
who sat on a box mending a shirt by the light of a 
candle. He, too, had had his dose of these little 
pests, which seemed to have descended upon all 
the armies like a plague. 

Two things were in the engineers’ favor — the 
Germans seemed to have withdrawn from that 
vicinity and the weather remained unusually fine. 
At night there was a full moon which bathed the 
country for miles around in beauty. 

Dave had put in a hard day’s work, and in addi- 
tion had been asked to go on an errand by Captain 
Obray, who had left an important notebook at 
one of the headquarters he had visited. This 
notebook the young lieutenant was now carrying 
in one of his pockets. 

“ If it wasn’t for those guns banging away in 
the distance one would never know a war was 
on by looking at such a scene as this,” remarked 
Dave, on this evening, as he walked toward the 
mine entrance with Roger and some of the others. 

“ It certainly is beautiful,” was the reply of the 
senator’s son. “ Almost too nice to retire. 
Wish we were at Crumville with the girls.” 

“ I think I’ll stay out a while,” went on Dave. 
“ I’ve got nothing particular to do. Do you want 
to take a little walk with me? ” 

“ I’ve promised myself to write a letter to my 
folks, Dave.” 


ATTACKED IN THE DARK 


199 


“ And I’m going to write a letter, too,” added 
Phil. “ Belle complained the last time that my 
letter was very short. This time I’ll make it long 
enough, believe me!” 

“ I wrote two letters yesterday; so I think I’ll 
take a little walk,” said Dave. “ I’ll be back in 
an hour or so.” 

His chums retired into one of the openings of 
the abandoned mine, and Dave turned to walk 
along a trail which led through the woods. Here 
at one point between a number of rocks, he had 
located a spring of pure water and he thought to 
get a drink. 

The moonlight filtering through the trees made 
many objects appear rather ghostly, but, as my 
old readers know, Dave was not one to scare 
easily, and he walked onward at a brisk pace. Of 
course he kept his eyes and ears wide open, for 
he had no desire to be surprised. He did not 
carry a gun, for in that vicinity there seemed to 
be no use for firearms. 

Although he knew nothing of what had been 
plotted by Max Gebauer and Nat Poole, Dave, 
since coming to the abandoned mines, had been 
constantly watched by those two unworthies. 
Now Gebauer noted with great satisfaction that 
Dave was taking a walk by himself in the semi- 
darkness. He at once sped away to notify his 
crony. 


200 DAVE PORTER’S WAR HONORS 

‘‘ Come on, Natl Now is our chance,” he said 
in a low voice. 

“ What do you mean? ” 

“ Dave Porter is taking a walk by himself in 
the woods.” 

“ What do you propose to do? ” 

“ Let us follow him. Maybe we’ll get a chance 
to square accounts.” 

“ I don’t see what we can do if he is just walk- 
ing in the woods,” said Nat. “ Of course, we 
could both jump on him and give him a good 
beating.” 

“ Something may develop. Come on before he 
gets out of sight.” 

Nat was willing, and side by side the pair hur- 
ried off in the direction our hero had taken. 

Reaching the spring, Dave procured a drink of 
water, refilled his canteen, and then proceeded on 
his way. The road led up to the top of a small 
hill, and here he thought he might get a good view 
of the surrounding country in the moonlight. 

While on the way Dave paused once or twice to 
look around him. When he did this Gebauer and 
Nat lost no time in dropping flat on the ground 
just as if they were making a night sortie into No 
Man’s Land. As a consequence, our hero did 
not become aware that he was being followed. 

When Dave reached what he thought was the 
top of the hill he was rather surprised to find 


ATTACKED IN THE DARK 201 

himself among some rather rough rocks and a 
large quantity of loose stones and dirt. Then he 
made a discovery, which filled him with wonder. 
A series of nest-holes for artillery had been con- 
structed on the top of the hill, evidently by the 
Germans. But there were no evidences of field- 
pieces having been used there, so Dave came to 
the conclusion that the enemy had changed their 
plans after the nests had been made. 

There were eight of the openings, and having 
walked to the last of them the young engineer 
made another discovery. Here there was a wide 
trench running downward into a cave-like open- 
ing. What was beyond, he could only surmise. 

“ It looks to me as if that slope leads down 
into some part of the abandoned mines,” he told 
himself. “ This is worth investigating. I’ll have 
to report to the captain and we’ll have to see what 
it looks like in the daytime.” 

In the moonlight the opening underground 
looked quite forbidding, and Dave did not venture 
very far into it. He did, however, examine the 
ground as closely as possible to see if he could 
find any recent footprints. But nothing of the 
sort came to light. Evidently no one had been 
in that vicinity since the last rain, which had oc- 
curred more than a week before. 

As our hero was bending over to make sure 
that there were no traces of footsteps around this 


202 DAVE PORTER’S WAR HONORS 


entrance to the abandoned mines, the notebook 
which Captain Obray had entrusted to him slipped 
from his pocket, falling between some of the loose 
rocks. 

“ Hello ! it won’t do for me to lose that note- 
book,” Dave told himself. “ I should have de- 
livered it before I went on this walk.” 

Dave had just straightened up with the note- 
book in his hand when he suddenly became aware 
of two figures close behind him. Each was armed 
with a heavy stick, and before he could make a 
move to defend himself he received a stinging 
blow on the head. He gave a cry of pain, and 
then two other blows descended upon him and 
he knew no more. 

Having assaulted him in such a dastardly fash- 
ion, Gebauer and Nat stood over their victim for 
several seconds expecting him to make some sort 
of move. But as he did not, the youth from 
Crumville became alarmed. 

“ Gee ! you don’t suppose we knocked him out, 
do you ? ” he whispered hoarsely. 

“ Certainly not,” answered Gebauer coolly. 
“ He’s partly senseless, that’s all. He’ll come 
around presently.” 

“ That was an awful crack you gave him on the 
head!” 

“ I didn’t hit him any harder than you did, 
Nat.” 


ATTACKED IN THE DARK 


203 


“ You did so ! I only gave him a slight tap, 
and you hit him hard twice.” 

See here ! You can’t put this off on me,” said 
the lieutenant fiercely. “ Just the same, I don’t 
think he’s hurt very much.” He bent over and 
took a look at Dave. “ He’s breathing all right.” 

“ Well, I’m glad of that! ” returned the money 
lender’s son, with a sigh of relief. 

While he was speaking Lieutenant Gebauer had 
picked up the notebook which had again fallen 
between the rocks, and placed it in his pocket. 

“ What’s that? ” demanded Nat. 

“ I don’t know. I’ll have to examine it when 
we get to the light. Here, Nat, take hold of him.” 

“ What are you going to do.” 

“ Let us place him in that opening yonder. 
There is no use of leaving him out here in the 
open.” 

“ But he might drop down into the mine if we 
place him too near one of the shafts,” remon- 
strated Nat. He was beginning to get a little 
frightened over what had been done. 

“What do we care if he does drop down?” 
answered the other brutally. “ Come on, before 
he comes to his senses.” 

“ I don’t want to go too far into this,” whined 
Nat. He was feeling more and more uncomfort- 
able. 

“ You promised to see it through, and you’ve 


204 DAVE PORTER’S WAR HONORS 

got to do it,” declared Lieutenant Gebauer. 
“Come! Catch hold!” 

Between them they carried Dave into the cave- 
like opening. Then, as Nat retreated, fearing 
that our hero would recover consciousness and 
recognize him, Gebauer lit a match and took a 
survey of the situation. Only a few feet away 
was a slope leading down to unknown depths. 
The fellow who had tried to become Dave’s rival 
in the affections of Jessie Wadsworth hesitated 
for an instant and then pushed our hero’s body 
toward this slope. Then he gave it another 
shove, and suddenly saw the body go turning over 
and over down the slope and out of sight into the 
darkness. 

“ There, I guess that will fix you, Dave 
Porter! ” he muttered to himself. “ You’ll have 
one sweet job getting out of that hole. I hope 
it takes you several days to do it. And if it does, 
I think it will be an easy matter to spread a re- 
port that you ran away simply to have a good time 
in one of the French towns behind us.” 


CHAPTER XXI 


m THE ABANDONED MINES 

“Where in the world am I and what hap- 
pened to me? ” 

This was the first thought that coursed slowly 
through Dave’s mind as he gradually returned to 
consciousness. He lay perfectly still, not moving 
for several minutes. 

All was pitch dark around him, and by the way 
his whole body hurt he knew he had been tumbled 
over some rocks. He put his hand to his head 
and found quite a swelling there. Then his 
fingers traveled to his left temple and felt some- 
thing sticky, which he knew was blood that had 
started to congeal. 

Presently a faint recollection of what had oc- 
curred crossed his mind. He remembered stooping 
to pick up the notebook belonging to Captain 
Obray and then catching a flitting glimpse of two 
figures behind him. Then had fallen several 
blows upon his head, and he had gone down in a 
heap. 

“ Maybe they were a couple of Germans who 
attacked me,” he reasoned. “ Perhaps I am their 
prisoner.” 


205 


2o6 DAVE PORTER’S WAR HONORS 


But then he remembered something else, which 
was that even in that passing glimpse of his assail- 
ants he had noted that they wore khaki and not 
the grey of the enemy. 

“ They were two of our own fellows,” he told 
himself. He knew he had no enemies among the 
engineers, and his mind at once reverted to Lieu- 
tenant Gebauer and Nat Poole. Would they be 
mean enough to make such an attack? 

“It doesn’t seem possible! And yet, if they 
didn’t do it, who did? ” was our hero’s thought. 

But now was no time for further speculation 
on the subject. Dave felt that he must find out 
where he was and do what he could to get back 
to the engineers’ quarters. He did not know how 
long he had been unconscious, but thought it must 
have been for some time, possibly an hour or two. 

He lay on some sloping rocks, and it was not 
without considerable difficulty that he arose to his 
feet. As he did this he felt in his pocket for 
Captain Obray’s notebook and discovered that it 
was gone. 

“ I remember now I didn’t have time to pick 
it up,” he told himself. “ Hang the luck, any- 
way! If those fellows went off with that note- 
book, what will the captain say? He told me it 
was very valuable. I suppose it must have some 
of our specifications in it.” 

Dave had brought neither a weapon nor a 


IN THE ABANDONED MINES 207 

pocket flashlight with him. He, however, had a 
waterproof match-safe, and this was about half 
full of matches. Bringing one of these forth, he 
struck it on the rocks with care, and then, as the 
small light flared up, he took a look at his sur- 
roundings. 

He was in a long, low passageway of the aban- 
doned mines. To one side of him was a V-shaped 
opening. One passageway of this opening was 
very rocky and at one point had a sudden descent 
of ten or twelve feet. The other passageway 
sloped upward at considerable less of an angle. 

“ I guess I must have come down that passage- 
way on the right,” he reasoned, “ because if I had 
come down the other way more than likely I would 
have broken my neck.” 

Dave was mistaken in his reasoning, and that 
mistake cost him dear, as we shall presently see. 
He had really come down the rougher way of 
the two, and that he had not lost his life in the 
fall was certainly miraculous. 

The young lieutenant counted his matches and 
found he had seven left. 

“ ril have to be very careful of those,” he told 
himself. “ It would be awful to be lost down 
here in the dark. Why, if that happened I might 
never find my way out ! ” 

This possibility caused him to become very 
grave and thoughtful, and without lighting an- 


2o8 DAVE PORTER’S WAR HONORS 


other match he crawled upward along the passage- 
way which he had noted and which he thought 
must be the way by which to get out of that part 
of the abandoned mines. 

With nothing to guide him, our hero’s progress 
was necessarily slow. He had to feel ahead every 
foot for fear of knocking his head on some of 
the rocks. 

But even though his matches were few, Dave 
would have done better had he lit one of them and 
surveyed his surroundings again before proceed- 
ing further. As it was, he was just thinking of 
coming to a halt to make up his mind what was 
best to do next when suddenly his foot came in 
contact with nothing more substantial than air. 
He made a wild clutch to save himself, but the 
next instant slid down and down over some rocks 
and loose dirt, coming finally to a halt with a shock 
that knocked nearly all the breath from his body. 

“ Great Caesar, that was some tumble ! ” he 
muttered, after he had somewhat recovered. 
“ I’ve got to make a light, and that is all there is 
to it. If I don’t, I may break my neck down 
here.” 

In his pocket Dave kept a packet of letters 
which he had received from Jessie. He could 
not bring himself to think of burning the letters, 
but took each out of its envelope and stowed them 
safely in his bosom once more. Then he tore 


IN THE ABANDONED MINES 209 

the envelopes apart, and made of each a long, 
curled taper. Having done this, he lit one. 

He discovered what had happened. At some 
time or other, probably while the mines were 
in operation, a shaft had been cut from one gal- 
lery to that at a lower depth. This shaft was a 
sloping one, and he had rolled down to its bottom. 

To get back to the upper level did not look 
easy, and after Dave had tried it several times 
he looked about for some other means of getting 
out of the abandoned mines. 

Presently our hero reached a point which filled 
him with encouragement. He came out upon a 
much larger passageway, and there saw the remains 
of a small railroad track, one which had evidently 
been used for mine cars. 

“ This track must lead out into the open air,” 
he reasoned. “ I remember seeing one of the 
tracks around the mines the first day we came to 
this vicinity.” 

Alongside of the track Dave found some bits 
of wood and dried brush, and he lost no time in 
fixing himself a sort of torch by tying some of 
the brush to a stick with a bit of string he chanced 
to be carrying in his pocket. 

Armed with the torch, he set off along the mine 
track and followed this for a considerable dis- 
tance. Then he came to where the track branched 
in two directions, and once more came to a halt. 


210 DAVE PORTER’S WAR HONORS 


Which track to pursue he did not know, and con- 
sulting his pocket compass did not help him in 
solving the problem. Finally he concluded to fol- 
low the track on the right, and so continued his 
journey underground. 

He had gone but a short distance when he came 
upon a decidedly gruesome object. This was the 
body of a dead German soldier huddled up in a 
heap among the rocks. The fellow had been dead 
for some time, probably weeks, if not months, and 
our hero lost no time in putting distance between 
himself and this awful reminder of the realities 
of war. 

At last he felt he ought to be near one of the 
openings of the abandoned mines. The track 
was now much broken, and a short distance fur- 
ther came to an end at a point where several other 
galleries crossed that in which he -was traveling. 

“ Here’s a fine state of affairs,’^’ he murmured 
to himself. “Now what’s to be done?” 

It must be admitted that Dave was growing 
somewhat alarmed. The blows on the head and 
the tumble he had taken a short while before had 
weakened him, and he could hardly keep his feet. 

He opened his canteen and took several swal- 
lows of water, and also bathed his forehead. 
This refreshed him for the time being; and he 
moved on again, this time taking a passageway 
which pointed southward. 


IN THE ABANDONED MINES 21 1 

“ If I keep on moving southward Fm bound 
to get out of this old mine sooner or later,” was 
the way he reasoned. “ And I’ll be coming out 
somewhere in the vicinity of our quarters.” 

But the passageways of the abandoned mines 
were by no means straight, and soon our hero be- 
came so mixed-up that he did not know which way 
to turn. He tried to get back to the gallery where 
the track was located, thinking to follow it in the 
opposite direction. But now the track had van- 
ished completely. 

At last he had to sit down and rest. He won- 
dered if it was still dark outside. 

If I only had my watch to tell the time by,” 
he mused. He had not yet replaced the time- 
piece which had been lost. 

The day’s work and the subsequent events had 
so exhausted our hero that at last he concluded 
he had better lie down and rest. As he prog- 
ressed he had picked up several sticks of wood 
and some more dry brush, and this he placed 
beside him so that he might have it ready for use 
if needed. Then by the dying flare of the torch 
he was using he managed to arrange something 
of a couch at the side of the gallery, and there 
lay down. He thought he would not be able to 
sleep, but after lying there for the best part of 
half an hour he dropped off into troubled slum- 
ber. 


212 DAVE PORTER’S WAR HONORS 


When the young lieutenant awoke it was still 
as dark as ever around him. He lost no time 
in fixing himself another torch, and, feeling hun- 
gry, ate a portion of the emergency ration he 
carried, washing it down with a few swallows of 
water. 

As he advanced he noticed that the passage- 
way he was following sloped gradually upward, 
and this gave him some encouragement. 

“ If it keeps on going up it certainly ought to 
come out into the open air sooner or later,” was 
the way the young officer reasoned. 

He had gone but a short distance further when 
a sound came to his ears which filled him with sur- 
prise. There was a sharp bark, followed by sev- 
eral others. 

“ Dogs — or else foxes ! ” he exclaimed. 

The sounds came closer, and holding up his 
torch Dave made out the forms of two lean and 
hungry-looking dogs. At first he thought they 
might belong to some Red Cross contingent, but 
soon threw this idea to the winds. 

“ They are just stray dogs, and pretty wild 
and hungry at that,” he told himself. “ I wish 
they hadn’t come this way. I don’t like their 
looks at all.” 

The dogs had evidently scented him, and now 
they came closer, barking furiously and showing 
their teeth. Evidently they, too, were lost under- 


IN THE ABANDONED MINES 213 

ground, and most likely had not had food for some 
time. 

“ Get out of there, you beggars! ” cried Dave, 
as the dogs came still closer, snapping and snarl- 
ing at him. 

He stuck out his torch, and both animals leaped 
back. But then they began to circle around, as 
if to attack him from the rear. This was a new 
peril, and one which Dave realized might prove 
grave. The dogs were large, and if really starv- 
ing they might do their best to lay him low. 

With the torch in his left hand, Dave gathered 
up a stone and threw it with all force at one of 
the beasts. It took the dog in the side, and he 
leaped back, yelping with pain. Then Dave 
threw another stone at the other dog, catching 
him in one of his forelegs. Then he made a 
leap as if to thrust the torch into the dogs’ faces, 
and in sudden panic the two animals turned tail 
and fled down one of the galleries of the mine. 

Having thus got rid of the dogs, at least for the 
time being, the young lieutenant continued on his 
course. He kept his eyes open for more brush- 
wood, or anything with which he might make a 
torch, but without avail. He lit the last stick he 
was carrying with a heavy heart. What should 
he do when that was consumed? 

An hour later found our hero in anything but a 
satisfied state of mind. He had traveled one gal- 


214 DAVE PORTER’S WAR HONORS 

lery after another of the abandoned mines, and 
hardly knew how to turn or what to do next. The 
idea of being thus buried underground was horri- 
ble. Then, of a sudden, came a change. He 
reached a turn of a passageway, and far ahead saw 
a streak of light. 

“ An opening at last! ” he cried joyously, and 
his heart gave a bound of delight. He fairly 
ran forward, so eager was he to get out into the 
open air once more. 

And then almost before he realized it the un- 
expected happened. 

Dave found himself close to one of the open- 
ings of the abandoned mines, but at a point which 
was a long distance from the quarters of the engi- 
neers. Although he did not know it, he had trav- 
eled for several miles under the hills in that vi- 
cinity. 

“Who goes there?’’ shouted a voice in Ger- 
man; and a minute later the young lieutenant 
found himself surrounded by half a dozen of the 
enemy. 


CHAPTER XXII 

LOOKING FOR DAVE 

“ I WONDER why Dave doesn’t come back? ” 

“ He must have taken quite a walk, Roger.” 
“ I should think, Phil, that he would be too 
tired to go very far; we’ve had quite a strenuous 
day, if you’ll remember.” 

“ I don’t have to remember ! My back keeps 
reminding me of it all the while,” said the ship- 
owner’s son. “ I’ll tell you what — being a work- 
ing engineer in the army is no fool of a job ! ” 

The two chums had finished the letters they had 
spoken of writing, and along with several of the 
others were taking their ease in that portion of 
the abandoned mines which had been turned over 
to them for quarters. Not far away Ben and 
Buster were sitting beside a small nail keg, play- 
ing a game of checkers on a home-made board 
with some French coins for men. Close at hand 
sat Shadow, telling one of his innumerable stories 
to some of the other engineers. 

“ What do you say if we go out and meet him? ” 
remarked Roger, after a pause. 

215 


21 6 DAVE PORTER’S WAR HONORS 


“ Suits me,” responded Phil. And a moment 
later they were on their way. 

Outside the moon still shone brightly, so that 
objects could be seen for quite a distance. They 
looked up and down the path through the trees, 
but, of course, saw nothing of the young lieuten- 
ant. 

Presently an officer approached them who 
proved to be Captain Obray. 

“Out a little late, aren’t you?” said the cap- 
tain pleasantly, as they saluted. “ I thought all 
you fellows were pining for sleep after such a 
hard day’s work.” 

“ We came out to look for Lieutenant Porter,” 
answered Roger. 

“ Pm looking for him myself,” said the captain 
in some surprise. 

He was after the notebook which our hero had 
promised to get for him. This notebook con- 
tained several plans and specifications which were 
of importance. The captain had left the note- 
book at headquarters, and knowing that Dave 
had gone there to make a report, had requested 
him to get it. 

“ He came out for a walk, leaving us to write 
some letters,” remarked Phil. “ But he ought to 
be back by this time, unless he went a long dis- 
tance, and I shouldn’t think he would do that 
after such a day’s work.” 


LOOKING FOR DAVE 


217 

“ Have you any idea which way he took? ” 

“ He didn’t say anything about it, but I rather 
imagine he walked up through the woods to that 
spring we located there,” answered Roger. “ If 
you don’t mind. Captain, we’ll go up there and 
take a look around.” 

“ I’ll go with you,” answered the captain. 
And then he added suddenly: “I don’t know 
but what it might be well for you to take your 
guns along.” 

“ Do you think there are any Germans in this 
vicinity? ” 

“ It’s possible. They may be sending out some 
night raiding parties, you know, through some 
openings of the mines.” 

The two young engineers ran back to their 
quarters and soon returned armed. The captain 
carried his pistol; and thus the three walked 
through the woods until they reached the spring. 
Here they saw where some of the water had been 
splashed around on the otherwise dry rocks, show- 
ing that somebody had been there not so very 
long before. 

“ It’s too bad we can’t call him,” said Phil. 
But this was against the regulations, no loud cries 
of any kind being tolerated during the night. 
Had they given such a cry it would have been taken 
at once for an alarm, and this would have caused 
a commotion throughout the entire camp. 


2i8 DAVE PORTER’S WAR HONORS 


The three walked on past the spring and pres- 
ently came close to the hill up which Dave had 
climbed. But here they saw no evidences of the 
missing lieutenant, and at last turned back to their 
quarters. 

“ I must say, Captain, I don’t like this at all,” 
said Roger. 

“ Neither do I, Sergeant. Unless Lieutenant 
Porter went off on some special mission, it looks 
to me as if something bad may have happened 
to him.” 

“ Do you think the Germans would dare to 
come so far behind our lines? ” 

They might if they thought they saw a chance 
of capturing some of our men. It’s bad to have so 
many mine openings around.” 

“ Oh, I hope Dave hasn’t been captured ! ” cried 
Phil, in dismay. 

With heavy hearts the three returned to their 
separate quarters. As soon as Captain Obray 
had left them, Roger and Phil acquainted their 
chums with what had occurred. 

“Dave missing! You don’t mean it!” ex- 
claimed Ben, and his face showed his concern. 

“ What in the world do you suppose could have 
happened to him? ” asked Buster. 

“ If any of the Heinies are on a raiding party 
we had better get prepared for them,” was 
Shadow’s comment. 


LOOKING FOR DAVE 


219 


They talked the matter over for fully an hour, 
but without arriving at any satisfactory conclu- 
sion. The disappearance of Dave worried all 
of them a good deal, and it was a long while 
before any of them got to sleep, Roger and Phil 
being unusually restless. 

“ Gee ! if the Germans have captured Dave, 
however are we going to tell his folks? ” was the 
way the shipowner’s son expressed himself. 

“And how are we going to tell Jessie Wads- 
worth? ” added Roger. “ Oh, it just makes me 
sick to think of it ! ” 

All of the young engineers were up at an early 
hour, and they readily received permission to go 
on a hunt for their missing chum. Captain Obray, 
however, cautioning them to be careful and not 
expose themselves needlessly to the enemy. 

The search for Dave lasted the best part of 
the morning. During that time they visited not 
only the vicinity of the spring, but also came close 
to the spot where the young lieutenant had been 
knocked senseless. But they saw nothing which 
threw any light on what had occurred. 

“ Beats the Dutch what has become of him ! ” 
sighed Ben, after they had walked up and down 
through the woods and along the hills in that 
vicinity. 

“ Looks almost as if the earth had opened and 
swallowed him,” said Buster. 


220 DAVE PORTER’S WAR HONORS 


“Say! do you suppose it’s possible he broke 
through to one of the openings of the mines?” 
questioned Phil. 

“ That might be possible, Phil,” answered 
Roger. “ Just the same, if it did happen, it’s 
queer we don’t find some evidence of it. If Dave 
went merely for a walk, it isn’t likely he left this 
path, and we have searched every foot of that 
several times.” 

Much discouraged, the young engineers re- 
turned to the camp and made a report to their 
superiors. Captain Obray shook his head seri- 
ously. 

“ It certainly looks bad,” he mused. “ I’ll have 
to list the lieutenant as missing.” 

The others did not feel much like going to 
work, but there were a number of things that had 
to be done. The news soon spread throughout 
the entire engineering camp, and Frank Andrews 
and a number of others who had known Dave 
intimately were much affected. 

“ He wouldn’t go away like this on his own 
account,” said Andrews. “ Something undoubt- 
edly happened to him.” 

“ And that something couldn’t have been any- 
thing good,” returned Roger. 

As soon as the young engineers were through 
with their work for the afternoon they started 
on another hunt for Dave, this time being accom- 


LOOKING FOR DAVE 


221 


panied by Frank Andrews and several of the 
older engineers. Every foot of the woods In that 
vicinity was gone over, Including a portion of the 
hill which Dave had ascended. 

“ Here are some footprints,” said Frank An- 
drews presently, as he pointed to some marks In 
the soft soil near where Dave had been thrown 
down. 

They examined this locality with great care, 
and presently Phil picked up a uniform button. 

“ That shows one of our men was up here,” 
declared the shipowner’s son. ‘‘ It’s an Ameri- 
can button.” 

“ It may be one of Dave’s,” answered Frank 
Andrews, after looking the button over. 

They soon came to the opening down which 
Dave had been shoved. But here nothing greeted 
their eyes which looked suspicious. 

“ It’s possible he may have slipped down into 
just such a hole as that,” remarked Roger. 

“But why should he? No fellow would do 
it with his eyes wide open,” said Ben. 

“ But it was night-time,” suggested Shadow. 

“ That’s true; but It was moonlight. And be- 
sides, If Dave slipped into any place like that. 
I’ll bet he would soon pull himself out.” 

There seemed nothing more to do, and with 
hearts that were heavier than ever they returned 
to their quarters. 


222 DAVE PORTER’S WAR HONORS 


On the following day Phil went out on an 
errand which took him past the infantry command 
to which Gebauer and Nat Poole belonged. He 
saw Nat sitting on a fallen tree. The money 
lender’s son looked anything but cheerful. Phil 
at first thought of passing the young soldier, but 
suddenly wheeled around. 

“ Hello, Natl ” he called out, as pleasantly as 
he could. 

“ Hello, yourself! ” was the surly response. 

“ Say, Nat, have you heard the news about 
Dave Porter? ” questioned Phil. 

“What are you talking about? I haven’t 
heard anything,” answered the money lender’s son 
in a nervous, high-pitched voice. 

“ Dave went out the other evening for a walk, 
and he hasn’t returned. I don’t suppose you have 
seen or heard anything of him? ” 

“ I haven’t seen anything of Dave Porter 1 I 
don’t know anything about him! ” Nat’s manner 
showed his agitation. “ Why should you come to 
me about him? ” 

“ Oh, I thought you might be interested. His 
disappearance is worrying us a good deal.” 

“ Humph ! Perhaps he got scared and de- 
serted.” 

“ You know better than to talk that way, Nat,” 
replied Phil sharply. 


LOOKING FOR DAVE 


223 


I mean maybe he went back to one of those 
French towns to have a good time for a day or 
two,” continued the money lender’s son. 

“Don’t talk like a fool! You know Dave 
Porter would never break away like that His 
disappearance has a serious side to it, although 
what, we don’t know.” 

“ Well, if you know all about it, why do you 
bother me?” went on Nat, looking more sour 
than ever. 

“ Nat Poole, if I had your disposition I’d go 
down to the river and drown myself ! ” declared 
the shipowner’s son in disgust. “ Dave is right 
from your home town, and he’s as good a fellow 
as there is in the world. And even though he 
did give you what you deserved, you ought to have 
some interest when he is missing and may be in 
serious trouble. For all we know, he may be 
a prisoner of the Germans.” 

“ I don’t know anything about him — and I 
don’t care! ” said Nat, and jumped up from the 
log upon which he was sitting and walked away. 

To tell the truth, Nat was very much disturbed, 
and he hurried away, fearing that Phil might dis- 
cover his state of mind. He and Gebauer had 
kept track of matters, and early that morning had 
learned that our hero was still missing. 

“ I wonder what will happen if he never turns 


224 DAVE PORTER’S WAR HONORS 

up? ” thought Nat, as he walked back to his quar- 
ters. The very idea that Dave might never re- 
turn caused him to shiver. 

A little later Nat ran into Gebauer and, mo- 
tioning the lieutenant to one side, told him of the 
interview with Phil. 

“ I hope you didn’t give yourself away! ” cried 
Gebauer quickly. 

“ Trust me for that,” answered the money 
lender’s son. “ Just the same, Max, I think you 
carried things too far.” 

carried things? You, you mean!” an- 
swered the lieutenant quickly. 

“See here! You’re not going to stick it off 
on me like that,” stormed Nat. “ It was you 
who gave him the crack that knocked him sense- 
less.” 

“ Sh-sh ! Not so loud ! ” interrupted Gebauer, 
and placed a hasty hand over his companion’s 
mouth. “ Somebody might hear you ! ” 

“ Well then, don’t say I’m to blame.” 

“ Don’t let’s talk about that now.” Gebauer 
drew a deep breath. “ I’m glad Lawrence men- 
tioned the state of affairs to you. Now they 
won’t think it’s strange that we know all about it.” 

“But suppose he never returns?” questioned 
Nat hoarsely. 

“ Oh, he’ll get back some time or other.” 

“ How do you know? ” 


LOOKING FOR DAVE 


225 


“ I’m sure he will. Just tumbling him down 
into that mine can’t have hurt him so very much.” 

“ But he might have gone down into some ter- 
ribly deep hole.” 

“ I think you’ll find Dave Porter turning up 
safe and sound sooner or later. Just the same, 
I guess we had better not say anything about hav- 
ing seen him on his way to one of the towns in 
the rear,” continued Gebauer. 

“ Why not? I thought that was part of your 
scheme to get him into trouble.” 

“ Well, I’ve changed my mind about it, Nat. 
You see, it’s this way: If we were positive that 
he would show himself in a day or two, we might 
spread such a report. But if he doesn’t turn up, 
then they would be sure to come to us and ask 
for all particulars, and that might prove very 
embarrassing. So I guess for the present we had 
better say nothing.” 

“ What did you do with that notebook you 
picked up? ” 

“ I put that away.” 

“ You had better place it where no one can find 
it. Max. If it was found among your things it 
might be used as evidence against us.” 

“ I’ve got it in a safe place, so don’t worry.” 

‘‘ Do you think we ought to go on a hunt for 
him ourselves?” continued Nat, after an unsat- 
isfactory pause. 


226 DAVE PORTER’S WAR HONORS 


“What do you mean? Go down into that 
shaft of the abandoned mines? ” 

“ Yes.” 

“ Not on your life ! I wouldn’t go down there 
for a thousand dollars,” answered Gebauer 
quickly. The very thought of going down into 
that dark place to look for his victim caused him 
to shudder. 

“ Somehow I think we ought to do something,” 
continued Nat. He was feeling more and more 
uncomfortable as he realized the awful possibili- 
ties attached to their actions. 

“We’ll lie low and say nothing!” answered 
the lieutenant firmly. “ You keep your mouth 
tight shut. If those friends of Porter’s come to 
you and try to pump you, beware of them. If 
they got an inkling of what we did, we would 
certainly be in bad.” And then Gebauer looked 
at Nat in such a fierce way that it struck terror 
to the slacker’s very soul. 


CHAPTER XXIII 


A PRISONER OF THE ENEMY 

As SOON as Dave saw the Germans he attempted 
to retreat, but they were too quick for him, and in 
a few seconds six of the enemy had surrounded 
him while several more were running in that di- 
rection. 

As we know, the young lieutenant was unarmed, 
so resistance was out of the question. Several 
of the Germans pointed their rifles at him, and 
then there was nothing left for him to do but throw 
up his hands in token of surrender. 

“ Watch him, you Kopek and Posen,” said an 
under officer, in German. “ There may be more 
coming.” 

The two soldiers addressed pushed Dave 
roughly to one side in an angle of the wall, and 
there one of them held him at the point of a 
bayonet. In the meantime, the other Germans, 
under the leadership of the officer, spread out 
across the passageway of the mine. Some even 
ran a distance ahead, peering this way and that 
along the dark passageways. 

Presently the officer came back, accompanied by 
227 


228 DAVE PORTER’S WAR HONORS 

one of his men, a fellow who had lived for some 
time in London and who could speak fairly good 
English. 

“ Haf you been all alone?” demanded this 
soldier, after having received a request for this 
information from his superior. 

“ Yes, I am all alone,” answered Dave. 

“ How did you come by this part of the mine? ” 
was the next question put. 

Dave saw no reason for deceiving those who 
had made him a prisoner, and in a straightforward 
manner he told of having rolled down through an 
opening in the mines some distance off, and then 
related how he had wandered around, met the 
savage dogs, and finally come out into daylight 
at this point. The German listened attentively, 
and from time to time translated what our hero 
said for the benefit of the others. 

“ And you wass sure you been all alone? ” was 
the next question. 

“ Yes.” 

No more questions were asked just then, but a 
number of the Germans were detailed to watch 
for any signs of approaching Americans. Then 
Dave was placed in the charge of two of the men 
and told to march. 

The young lieutenant wondered if he had come 
out of the mines at a point which was near the 
German lines. He saw only about fifteen soldiers. 



One of them held him at the point of a bayonet. — Page 227, 



A PRISONER OF THE ENEMY 229 

and nothing that looked like a trench or a dugout, 
and concluded that this was simply a reconnoitring 
party making its way through the woods and over 
the rough rocks, probably with some idea of “ feel- 
ing out ” that portion of the American front. 

Presently the party came to where they had to 
cross a small stream. Before this was done Dave 
was halted and the soldier who could speak Eng- 
lish addressed him. 

“ You not make any noise now, or you get 
killed,” he ordered, and the look on his face 
showed that he meant what he said. 

With these men ready either to shoot or stab 
him at an instant’s notice, Dave felt that it would 
be foolhardy to make any noise or attempt to 
escape. Consequently he silently crossed the 
small stream with them and walked along a trail 
leading through some thick brushwood. Thus 
they covered a good quarter of a mile, presently 
reaching open ground beyond which were a num- 
ber of German trenches. 

The appearance of the American prisoner was 
hailed with delight by a gathering of German 
soldiers, all of whom eyed Dave curiously. 

“ American — and a lieutenant at that! ” cried 
one. “ Some catch 1 ” 

“ Lieutenant Oswald will get some credit now,” 
returned another. 

“The Yankee pig ought to be shot downl 


230 DAVE PORTER’S WAR HONORS 

What is the sense of making a prisoner of him? ” 
cried a third. “ The Americans had no business 
to come into this war ! ” 

“Don’t worry, Carl — they will treat him 
rough enough ! ” exclaimed the first soldier who 
had spoken. Then he picked up a lump of dirt 
and hurled it at Dave, striking him in the leg. 

“ He’ll be useful to get some information 
from,” remarked another soldier. “ A lieuten- 
ant like that ought to know a good deal.” 

“ I don’t believe the Americans know any- 
thing! ” cried still another. “ They are a lot of 
numskulls 1 They had no business to get into this 
war I ” 

After a short pause at the trenches Dave was 
marched to the rear of the lines. Here, to his 
surprise, he was joined by two other Americans, 
both privates. 

“ Hello! where are you from? ” he questioned 
quickly, after both of the other prisoners had 
saluted him and he had saluted in return. 

One man, whose name was Oscar Davis, was 
from New York State, and the other, named Ralph 
Thompson, was from Massachusetts. Both were 
young fellows of about Dave’s age, and both were 
as mad as hornets because they had been captured. 

“ I was out in a night raid with twenty others,” 
explained Oscar Davis. “ We got along pretty 
well until all of a sudden Jerry began to throw 


A PRISONER OF THE ENEMY 


231 


up some star shells and flaming onions. Then I 
and two other fellows were spotted by the Fritz- 
ies, and both of the other fellows were killed. 
Then something hit me in the back and knocked 
me over on my head, so that I was partly stunned. 
When I got so I could do some thinking these 
fellows had me and they fairly dragged me over 
to their trench.” 

Ralph Thompson proved to be an American 
aviator. He had been up in a small machine do- 
ing special work when a storm had come up and 
one of the planes of his machine had suddenly 
broken. He had tried to get back behind the 
American lines, but the storm had been too much 
for him, and he had come down with a crash 
directly on top of one of the German dugouts. 
There had been a grand commotion, the Germans 
thinking that the dugout had been struck by a 
shell. He had set fire to his machine, as was 
the custom, but before he could make his escape 
had been surrounded and captured. 

“ And now I suppose we are in for a dandy 
time — not,” he concluded dismally. 

“ You can be thankful you weren’t killed when 
your plane collapsed,” returned Dave; and then 
told something about himself. 

“ What do you suppose they will do with us? ” 
questioned Oscar Davis anxiously. He was a tall, 
thin youth, and later on let out that he had the 


232 DAVE PORTER’S WAR HONORS 

year before graduated from Harvard University. 

“ I suppose we’re booked for one of their prison 
camps,” answered Dave. 

Then several of the Germans came up and 
made motions that they should keep quiet. 

It must be confessed that our hero was much 
downcast. He had read and heard a great deal 
of how inhumanly the Huns were treating all of 
their prisoners. Only a few days before word 
had reached the engineers of how several pris- 
oners had died in one of the detention camps 
from lack of proper food and clothing. 

“ I suppose I’ve got to make the best of it,” 
he thought philosophically. “ Just the same. I’d 
give a good deal to be back among our crowd 
once more.” 

About an hour later the three prisoners were 
told to march, and were made to travel a distance 
of several miles. At one point they were joined 
by several other Americans and about a dozen 
Canadians, and then the whole crowd continued 
on its way to the rear. 

The young lieutenant was hungry. He had al- 
ready eaten what was left of his emergency ration 
and used up the water left in his canteen. But 
no food was offered to him, and he had all he 
could do to get a drink of water, the Germans 
even seeming to begrudge him this comfort. 

“They’re Huns, all right enough!” growled 


A PRISONER OF THE ENEMY 


233 


one of the Canadians, who chanced to be tramp- 
ing along just behind Dave. “ We ought to wipe 
every mother’s son of them off the face of the 
earth! ” 

“ Certainly not a very encouraging prospect,” 
answered Dave. 

“ Silence 1 ” came the sharp command from the 
head of the column; and then followed some words 
in German to the soldiers who had the prisoners 
in charge. As a consequence Dave and a num- 
ber of others received jabs from the soldiers’ 
gun-butts, and one poor fellow who made a slight 
resistance was promptly bowled over and stuck 
through the side with a bayonet. 

It was not until well toward nightfall that the 
prisoners reached a small wire compound where 
they were herded together like so many sheep. 
This compound had been used by other prisoners 
before them, and was in anything but a clean or 
sanitary condition. They were thrust into the en- 
closure in the most brutal fashion, and told they 
would have to remain there until the next day. 

“Don’t we get anything to eat?” questioned 
Dave in broken German. He was beginning to 
feel faint. 

“Yes; you’ll get something in a little while,” 
was the reply. 

All of the prisoners had, of course, been dis- 
armed and searched, and many of their most val- 


234 DAVE PORTER’S WAR HONORS 

uable possessions had been taken from them. 
The compound was heavily guarded, so that es- 
cape was practically out of the question. 

“ It is nothing more than a big pig-pen! ” was 
the way Oscar Davis expressed himself. 

“ Well, you didn’t expect to have it look like a 
New York City hotel, did you?” queried Dave, 
with a faint grin. 

“ They might at least treat us like human be- 
ings!” 

“ I agree with you there.” 

“ If they don’t give me something to eat pretty 
sooml’m going to try to make a break for it, even 
if it costs me my life,” put in Ralph Thompson 
recklessly. He had come from a rich family, and 
previous to entering the army had been used to the 
best of living. 

“ Don’t do anything foolish,” warned Dave. 
“ It won’t help you any, and it will only make it 
so much the harder for the rest of us. By their 
looks, some of those Huns wouldn’t like any bet- 
ter fun than to shoot down every one of us.” 

It was fully an hour before the prisoners were 
given anything to eat, then each got a small tin 
full of weak soup and a chunk of black bread. 

“ I can’t eat such chow as that,” declared one 
of the prisoners after tasting the stuff. “ Why, 
it isn’t even respectable dish-water! ” Neverthe- 
less, being very hungry, he managed at last to soak 


A PRISONER OF THE ENEMY 


235 


up his chunk of bread in the mess and devour it. 

Dave was of the opinion that the food served 
was decidedly poor, but it was better than noth- 
ing, and he ate it without comment. 

“ Anyway,” remarked Ralph Thompson, “ it’s 
a little bit filling, and that’s something. I won’t 
pull my belt any tighter until I am worse off.” 

The next day the prisoners were joined by a 
number of others, and all were marched still 
further to the rear, arriving about noon at a 
freight yard on the outskirts of a small town. 
Here were a number of box-cars, and the prisoners 
were herded into these like so many cattle. 

Over thirty men were in the car to which Dave 
and the other Americans were assigned. The car 
had only small slatted windows at either end. 
After being given a couple of buckets of water the 
door was closed and locked upon them. 

“ I don’t see how we are going to stand this,” 
grumbled one of the prisoners. “ Why, I can 
hardly breathe now! ” He was a short, thick-set 
fellow, and consequently somewhat at a disadvan- 
tage in that crowd. 

Of course, every one wanted to get in the vici- 
nity of one of the slatted windows so that he might 
get the benefit of what little fresh air was stirring. 
The car had been used for the transportation 
of cattle, and had not been cleaned. 

“ This certainly is the limit ! ” was Dave’s com- 


236 DAVE PORTER’S WAR HONORS 

merit, when he found himself squeezed into one 
end of this place. “ I wouldn’t treat a skunk like 
this!” 

Presently the train began to move, and the car 
rattled out of the freight yard and on its journey. 
Previous to going aboard the prisoners had been 
given some weak coffee, made mostly of acorns, 
and some bread which several of the men de- 
clared must be made of rye flour and sawdust. 
And that was the only meal they had had since 
morning. 

“ If they are going to starve us to death, they 
might as well do it at once,” grumbled Davis. 

“ They’re either going to starve us or suffocate 
us,” returned Thompson. The pair had struck 
up quite an acquaintance. 

On and on rattled the train, over switches and 
bridges, and through many villages and towns. 
Where they were bound, Dave could not imagine, 
but he knew they must be getting deeper and 
deeper into the heart of Germany, and this made 
him more downcast than ever. 

“ I’ll have no chance to escape at all if they take 
me too far away from the front lines,” he reasoned. 
“Too bad! I almost wish I had made a dash 
for it when I met those Germans at the entrance 
to the mines.” 

It was not until eight o’clock in the evening that 
the train came to a stop and the doors were thrown 


A PRISONER OF THE ENEMY 


237 


open. By that time many of those within could 
hardly stand upright, so weak were they from 
want of fresh air and proper rest. They stag- 
gered into the open, and were glad enough to 
learn they were to receive another meal. This 
time they were given a watery stew, made up partly 
of potatoes and greens with a tiny piece of meat. 
Accompanying the stew was the inevitable chunk 
of black, sawdusty bread. 

“A really elaborate menu, eh?” was Oscar 
Davis’s sarcastic comment. “ I hardly know what 
to pick out on the bill-of-fare.” 

“ Well, don’t eat too much,” returned Dave, 
with a faint grin. “ If you do that, you may get 
indigestion.” 

“Indigestion!” ejaculated the former univer- 
sity student. “ I think this mess is just the thing 
to go back on a fellow’s stomach.” 

“ Well, don’t be discouraged,” returned Dave 
grimly. “ It may be that the worst is yet to 
come.” 

In that surmise our hero was correct, as events 
a little later proved. 


CHAPTER XXIV 


TRYING TO ESCAPE 

The next day found Dave and about one hun- 
dred prisoners herded in a long, low building which 
had once been used as a horse-stable. It was 
located at a place which had evidently been a fair- 
grounds, for close behind were the remains of a 
race-track and a grand-stand. 

“ I wonder how long we’ll have to stay in this 
place?” grumbled Ralph Thompson. 

“Pretty bum quarters, eh?” added Oscar 
Davis. 

“ Anyway, it’s better than that cattle-car we 
were herded in,” remarked Dave. “ There are 
more windows and we can get better air.” 

That afternoon the young lieutenant was called 
out and made to march to a military quarters not 
far away. There he was asked his name and the 
name of the command to which he belonged, and 
then a great number of questions were put to him. 
He answered as well as he could, taking care, of 
course, that he did not give the enemy any informa- 
tion of military value. 


238 


TRYING TO ESCAPE 


239 


“ You have evidently been well drilled concern- 
ing what to say if captured,” remarked the ques- 
tioner, a burly German officer, as he glared at 
Dave. “ If you expect good treatment at our 
hands you will have to loosen your tongue a little.” 

“ I have answered every question put to me,” 
was our hero’s prompt reply. 

“ But you are keeping a whole lot of informa- 
tion to yourself,” stormed the German officer. 
“ But we’ll get it out of you sooner or later, never 
fear ! ” and then he ordered a couple of the guards 
to take Dave back to the prison pen. 

The other prisoners were also questioned one 
by one. A few of them probably told more than 
they should, doing this perhaps innocently, but 
the majority were very close-mouthed, so much 
so that their German questioners were anything 
but pleased. 

“ These American swine think they can do as 
they please,” grumbled one of the German officers. 
“ But just wait — we’ll show them what’s what ! ” 

As a result of their holding back information 
desired by the Huns, the prisoners were treated 
with more severity than ever. Some of the win- 
dows of the horse stable were boarded up, and 
their rations were cut down to such small portions 
that even the most liberal-minded men in the 
crowd demurred. 

“ This is positively inhuman ! ” declared one of 


240 DAVE PORTER’S WAR HONORS 

the Canadians. “ It’s against the rules of war, 
too ! ” 

“ England will have a big claim to settle against 
Germany when this war is over,” declared an- 
other. 

“ I reckon Uncle Sam will have a claim, too,” 
put In an American prisoner from Alabama. 

Several days. Including Sunday, were spent In 
this prison pen, and then one morning, while it 
was raining hard, one of the doors was opened 
and a number of prisoners were told to come out 
as their names were called. 

“ I guess they’re going to take us to some other 
place,” remarked Dave. “ I wonder where? ” 

“ I hope it’s some better place than this,” 
growled Oscar Davis. 

Dave was among the first to be called out, and a 
number of Americans and Canadians followed, 
among them being Ralph Thompson. Oscar 
Davis was left behind along with a number of 
others, why, Dave could not surmise. 

Without having a chance to say good-bye to 
those left behind, about thirty of the prisoners 
were marched away from the horse-stables to a 
railroad station in a small German village. On 
the way some boys and girls jeered at them, and 
one old woman sifted some ashes down on their 
heads from a second-story window. 

Some of these ashes got Into Dave’s eyes, almost 


TRYING TO ESCAPE 


241 


blinding him. He forgot for the instant where 
he was walking, and did not realize the situation 
until one of the guards hit him in the shoulder, 
almost knocking him over. Had there been the 
slightest chance of improving his condition 
thereby, Dave would have leaped upon this guard 
and pommeled him well. But he knew such an 
action would have meant death, so he controlled 
himself as best he could and continued on the 
march. 

At the railroad station they were herded into 
a small freight-yard, and there received another 
meal of watery soup and black bread. While 
they were trying to eat this some of the town folks 
came down to jeer at them and a few to hurl 
sticks and stones. 

“ Being a prisoner is certainly no picnic,” re- 
marked Ralph Thompson. 

“ I know what I am going to do,” answered 
Dave, in a low tone of voice. “ I am going to 
break away at the first opportunity that presents 
itself.” 

“ They’ll shoot you down if they get the 
chance.” 

“ I don’t care — let them shoot ! ” answered 
the young lieutenant. 

The inhuman treatment which had been ac- 
corded him since his capture was beginning to 
make him reckless. Where the Germans were 


242 DAVE PORTER’S WAR HONORS 

going to send him next, he could not surmise, but 
he felt certain they would place him at work, either 
on one of their roads, or else in one of their 
mines. There, he knew, he would be made to 
labor ten or twelve hours a day on the scantiest 
of food and in all sorts of weather. 

“ It’s enough to break down a mule,” he reas- 
oned to himself. “I’m not going to stand it I 
I’m going to do what I can to escape at the very 
first opportunity.” 

All that day and the following night were spent 
in the little freight yard. During the darkness 
the guards were increased, and electric lights were 
made to illuminate the scene, so that escape was 
out of the question. It still rained as hard as 
ever. 

Dave turned the matter over in his mind for 
an hour or two, but finally gave it up and got 
what little sleep he could sitting with his back 
against some old railroad ties. Our hero, as 
well as all of the other prisoners, was by this 
time soaked to the skin, and many of the crowd 
got heavy colds, from which one or two of them 
did not recover. 

It was not until after seven o’clock that eve- 
ning that a line of freight cars came rattling into> 
the yard. When it came to a standstill those in 
the yard noted from the sounds that reached them 
that more than three quarters of the cars were 


TRYING TO ESCAPE 


243 


filled with prisoners. They begged for food and 
water and fresh air, but the Germans having the 
train in charge paid no attention to their appeals. 

The prisoners in the yard were placed in two 
cars, and this time Dave was separated from 
Ralph Thompson. He was told to get into a car 
which was partly filled with packing-cases. There 
was room for just a dozen prisoners, and these 
were herded together closely. 

“ These are smaller quarters than any yet,” 
remarked one of the prisoners. 

“ But the car is fairly clean, and that is one 
comfort,” said another. 

“ And we can use some of these packing-cases 
to sit on,” added a third. 

‘‘ I wonder if there is any grub in these boxes? ” 
ventured a fourth prisoner, after the door had 
been closed and locked upon them. “ If there is 
anything to eat. I’m going to have it.” 

Of course, it was quite dark in the car, but one 
prisoner chanced to have a few matches, and one 
of these was lit and the boxes hastily inspected. 
They proved to contain pieces of small machinery, 
much to the prisoners’ disgust. 

“ We can’t eat hardware,” was the way one of 
them expressed himself. 

One of the boxes had been left open, and Dave 
used this for a seat. As the train bumped along, 
making probably twenty-five or thirty miles an 


244 DAVE PORTER’S WAR HONORS 

hour, he felt in the box and presently brought 
out a small piece of machinery shaped something 
like a jimmy. 

As the train rattled on the young lieutenant 
heard one prisoner ask another what time it was 
and found out that it was close to ten o’clock in 
the evening. The rain had stopped, but it was 
still cloudy, with no stars showing themselves. 

“ If I could only get out of this car I might 
have a chance to hide in some good place before 
daylight,” Dave reasoned. “ If the door was 
open, I think I’d take a chance on jumping out, 
even though this old train is running along at 
fairly good speed.” 

He was sitting not far from one of the doors 
of the car, and now he examined this as best he 
could in the darkness. Then he took the piece 
of machinery in his hand and forced it between 
the door and its frame. 

“What are you trying to do there?” ques- 
tioned one of the other prisoners who was at his 
side. 

“ I’m going to try to force this door open,” 
answered our hero. 

“What? And jump out in the darkness? 
You’ll break your neck! ” was the quick reply. 

“ I’ll see about what I’ll do after I get the 
door open — if I can get it open,” answered the 
young lieutenant. 


TRYING TO ESCAPE 


245 


Fortunately for our hero, the car was an old 
one and the fastenings were rather dilapidated. 
By using the piece of machinery as a jimmy, he 
forced the edge of the door outwards until there 
came a sudden snap which showed that the lock 
had been broken. Then the lock fell away and 
the door slid open with ease. 

“Hello, somebody has opened the door!” 
cried a voice in the darkness. 

“ That fresh air feels fine 1 ” 

“What’s doing there?” questioned somebody 
else. “ Are we going to get out? ” 

“ I broke the door open with one of those 
pieces of machinery,” answered Dave. “ I don’t 
intend to remain a prisoner any longer. I am 
going to jump from this train at the very first 
chance I get.” 

“Don’t do it, lad! Don’t do it!” cried one 
of the older men. “ You’ll break your neck 
sure ! ” 

“ And you can’t get away,” added another. 
“ The Germans will be sure to spot you in the 
morning and they’ll shoot you down.” 

To this Dave did not reply. Instead he peered 
forth from the train, opening the door only a 
few inches for that purpose. 

All was dark, and for a minute or two he could 
see but little. Then he made out that they were 
passing through a patch of woods and that the 


246 DAVE PORTER’S WAR HONORS 

jagged rocks were numerous along the roadbed. 

“ I can’t jump out here,” he told himself. “ I’d 
either be killed or terribly cut up.” 

A few minutes later the woods were left be- 
hind, and then the prisoners found themselves 
bumping over a railroad crossing. Then they 
ran into a small station, which was lit up by smoky 
lanterns. 

“ I guess this is my chance,” Dave told him- 
self, and the train had not yet come to a stop 
when he pushed open the door a little farther 
and allowed himself to drop out on the ground. 
Then, as the train rolled a few yards further, he 
made a quick leap for the shelter of some nearby 
sheds. 

The young lieutenant knew only too well that 
it would be foolhardy to remain long in that vi- 
cinity. The train had halted, and undoubtedly 
some sort of inspection would be made of the 
cars and the prisoners. The broken-open door 
would be discovered, and then would come an 
alarm. 

“ I’ve got to place distance between myself and 
this place,” he murmured, and, watching his 
chance, he sped along a line of low warehouses 
and then took to some open fields beyond. He 
kept on at his best rate of speed until he crossed 
a road and then came to a patch of woods, evi- 


TRYING TO ESCAPE 247 

dently that through which the train had recently 
passed. 

By that time Dave was so out of wind he could 
run no longer, and, finding a comfortable resting 
place among the trees and bushes, he sat down and 
gave himself over to his thoughts. 

It must be admitted that his mind was by no 
means at ease. He realized that in thus attempt- 
ing to escape he had taken his life in his hands. 
Should the German guards make a search and 
discover him, his life would probably pay the 
forfeit. 

I’ll have to lie low in the daytime,” he told 
himself, “ and do all of my traveling at night. 
And how I’m going to get anything to eat is a 
question.” 

Having rested and at the same time listened in 
vain for some sounds of pursuit, the young lieu- 
tenant went on his way, coming out of the woods 
along the line of the railroad. Looking back, 
he made out the distant village where the train 
had stopped, and then hurried forward in the di- 
rection from which he had come. He reasoned 
that the train had been carrying him deeper into 
the enemy’s country, and what he wanted to do 
was to get back to the vicinity of the war front. 

Our hero had traveled a distance of a mile or 
more when he heard a rumble behind him. Look- 


248 DAVE PORTER’S WAR HONORS 

ing back, he saw a train approaching rather 
slowly. As it came closer he made out that it 
was a heavily loaded freight. It was going up- 
hill, and the engineer had all he could do to coax 
the locomotive into hauling the load. 

Our hero stood to one side and allowed a num- 
ber of cars to pass him. Then, struck by a sud- 
den thought, he watched his opportunity and 
boarded the freight train. 

Dave had supposed that the entire train was 
made up of cars filled with freight. But in this 
the young lieutenant was mistaken. Several of 
the cars in the center of the train contained sol- 
diers on their way to the front. More than this, 
the train carried its regular guards, and as Dave 
stood between two of the cars wondering what 
he had best do next, he heard two of these guards 
talking in guttural tones. 

“ They say four or five of the prisoners got 
away,” he heard one of the men say. In German. 

“ That’s too bad, Heinrich. Do you suppose 
they came this way? ” remarked a second guard. 

“ Dolbear thought so,” went on the first 
speaker. “ He told me to tell you and the others 
to be on the watch. If we see any of those ras- 
cals we are to shoot them on sight.” 


CHAPTER XXV 

THE ENCOUNTER ON THE RIVER 

“ This looks as if I had jumped from the fry- 
ing-pan into the fire.” 

Such was Dave’s thought as he listened to what 
was said by the German guards. He could not 
understand every word spoken, but he gathered 
enough to know that they were keeping a look- 
out for him and some others who had leaped from 
the prisoners’ train. 

The two guards were on the top of one of the 
cars, and only a few feet from where the young 
lieutenant was in hiding. He crouched low on 
one of the bumpers, running a serious risk of 
being pinched should the cars make a sudden 
swerve to one side or the other. 

On and on puffed the train. The top of the 
hill was presently gained, and then the cars in- 
creased their speed and rattled forward over the 
uneven rails and across numerous switches. 

One of the guards had evidently gone toward 
the rear of the train, and now the other started 
to move forward. He leaped directly over our 

249 


250 DAVE PORTER’S WAR HONORS 

hero’s head from car to car, but he was too in- 
terested in maintaining his footing to glance down, 
so Dave remained undiscovered. 

“ I hope those fellows don’t come back this 
way,” he muttered to himself, as he straightened 
up, holding fast to one of the cars as he did so. 
His cramped position had begun to tell on him, 
and he was glad to make a change. 

A couple of hours passed and the long freight 
still continued on its way. It had rolled through 
a number of villages and several small towns, 
and had also crossed three small streams. Now 
they were climbing another hill, and the speed 
of the train was again slackened. 

One of the towns through which they passed 
Dave recognized as a place he had seen before, 
and this gave him not a little satisfaction, for he 
felt that he was once more headed for the fighting 
front. 

“ I’ve got to get pretty close to it if I ever 
expect to get back to our lines,” was the way he 
reasoned. “ It wouldn’t be any use for me to 
attempt to travel any great distance through Ger- 
many, especially wearing this uniform.” 

As the train passed over the top of the second 
long line of hills and began to increase its speed 
down the other side, Dave resolved to make an- 
other move. He knew that sooner or later the 
freight would roll into some yard and there, if 


THE ENCOUNTER ON THE RIVER 251 

the place was lighted up and well guarded, it 
would be next to impossible to escape. 

“ I’ve got to leave this train before that hap- 
pens,” was the way he reasoned. “ And I had 
better take a look around and see what the pros- 
pects ahead are.” 

At the end of one of the freight cars was a 
ladder-like arrangement, and with caution Dave 
mounted this, to peer out over the top. He could 
see nothing of the guards, and so sat down on the 
top of the freight car to get a better view of his 
surroundings. The sky was now clearing and a 
number of stars were beginning to show them- 
selves. 

They were going down the grade rather rap- 
idly, and looking far ahead the young lieutenant 
saw a gleam of brightness which he rightly took 
to be a broad stream. On this side of the river 
was a good-sized town. 

In a few minutes more they rattled into the 
outskirts of the town. It was quite dark, the 
lights evidently being extinguished on account of 
a possible air raid by the Americans or their 
Allies. But in a tall tower was located a search- 
light, and this was suddenly turned on the train, 
flashing along the tops of the cars from end to end. 

Evidently the guards had been expecting this 
light to fall upon them, for they were on the 
alert and their eyes, following the bright beams. 


252 DAVE PORTER’S WAR HONORS 

fell full upon Dave before he had any chance 
to hide himself. 

“Who are you? Throw up your hands!” 
came the cry in German. And then, as Dave 
started to drop down between the cars once more, 
a shot rang out, followed by another. 

Both of the bullets whistled close over our 
hero’s head, and he made such a quick move out 
of range that he almost lost his footing. As it 
was, he dropped down on the bumper and had all 
he could do to keep himself from going clear 
through to the rails below. Had he done this, 
he would have been instantly ground beneath the 
wheels of the cars. 

The train was now rattling through the town, 
and a few seconds later it reached the near end 
of the long bridge across the river. 

“ I guess here is where I’ll have to jump for 
it,” thought the young lieutenant. He knew that 
the guards above would be rushing to the spot 
where they had last seen him and that they would 
not hesitate to open fire again. He had no desire 
to fall a victim to a German bullet. 

The train ran out on the trestle; and the edge 
of the cars was less than two feet from the out- 
side of the bridge. Bracing himself as best he 
could, Dave took a long breath and then made the 
leap. 

“ There he goes 1 ” cried one of the guards. 



Dave took a long breath and then made the leap. — Page 252. 


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THE ENCOUNTER ON THE RIVER 253 

“Shoot him! ” exclaimed the other; and then 
both blazed away with their rifles. 

Dave felt a queer stinging sensation along the 
outside of his left leg, and then he hit the waters 
of the river with a loud splash and went under. 
He knew he had been struck, and he hoped it 
was not a serious wound. 

Not to give the guards on the train a chance 
to shoot at him again, our hero kept under water 
as long as he could hold his breath. In the mean- 
time, the long freight train continued over the 
bridge and presently was lost to sight in the dis- 
tance. 

But the young lieutenant was too bewildered by 
what had occurred to note the disappearance of 
the train, and, coming up to the surface, he took 
a hasty breath and then dived again. 

When he came up a second time he dashed the 
water from his eyes and endeavored to look 
around him. All was semi-dark on the river and 
everything was quiet. 

“ Well, Tm out of that, anyway, unless they 
send word back to start a search for me,” he told 
himself. “ But what am I to do next? ” 

Fortunately for our hero, he had on only his 
light summer outfit, so his clothing did not weigh 
heavily upon him. The water was cool, but not 
cold, and this was rather refreshing than other- 
wise after his many days of confinement during 


254 DAVE PORTER’S WAR HONORS 

which it had been impossible to get anything like 
a bath. 

The river was rather swiftly flowing, and the 
young lieutenant allowed himself to be carried 
along by the current, meanwhile, however, strik- 
ing out in the direction of the other shore. This 
he knew would be bringing him just so much closer 
to the firing line. As he swam along he used his 
left leg, and thereby ascertained that the wound 
he had sustained was little more than a scratch, 
for which he was thankful. 

Dave had passed down the river a distance of 
several hundred yards, and was within fifty rods 
of the opposite shore, when an object coming 
down the stream caught his attention. It was a 
large rowboat manned by two soldiers who were 
singing some sort of an army song in noisy, gut- 
tural tones. 

“ I’ll have to take care that those fellows don’t 
discover me,” the young lieutenant reasoned, and 
then struck out toward the distant shore in an 
endeavor to evade the oncoming craft. 

Had the two soldiers in the boat been perfectly 
sober they would probably have kept on a straight 
course and passed Dave. But, as it chanced, both 
of them had been drinking heavily and were con- 
sequently somewhat befuddled. They managed 
their oars in anything but a skillful manner, and 
as a consequence when the boat was close to 


THE ENCOUNTER ON THE RIVER 255 

our hero it suddenly swerved around, hitting Dave 
in the shoulder. 

The blow was not a hard one, but it was suffi- 
cient to send the young lieutenant under and to 
knock a good deal of the wind out of him. When 
he came up he was at the stern of the rowboat, 
and this he clutched with both hands. 

“ Ha ! who is there, Hans? ” bawled one of the 
German soldiers. 

“ I don’t know. Let us find out,” answered 
Hans, and, dropping his oar, he stumbled to the 
stern of the boat and caught Dave by both wrists. 
Then the other German soldier also leaped back, 
and between them they hauled Dave up and into 
the craft. 

“ Upon my head, I think it is one of those 
Yankee swine! ” cried one of the soldiers in as- 
tonishment, as he peered into Dave’s face and 
looked at his water-soaked uniform. 

“What? An American!” roared the other. 
“ Dump him into the river again ; he deserves 
nothing better than to be drowned.” 

“ No, no! Now we have him, let us take him 
to camp as our prisoner,” was the mumbled reply. 
“ We shall get a good deal of credit for capturing 
one of those beasts.” 

To this the young lieutenant answered nothing, 
for the reason that he was almost out of breath, 
and, furthermore, the befuddled soldiers spoke 


256 DAVE PORTER’S WAR HONORS 

in a German dialect of which he hardly under- 
stood a word. 

“ Hands up, you son of a rat! ” muttered one 
of the soldiers, as our hero sank down on one 
of the middle seats of the large rowboat. “ Don’t 
try to play any tricks on us.” 

As he spoke he made a clumsy pass at the 
young lieutenant, and it was then for the first 
time that Dave realized the truth of the situation, 
which was that the two soldiers were in no fit 
condition to manage the rowboat. They had evi- 
dently been sent from their camp into town on 
an errand, and while on this had taken the oppor- 
tunity to treat themselves liberally to liquor. 

Dave realized that if he wanted to escape from 
the clutches of the enemy, he must do some quick 
thinking, if not acting. Seeing the condition of 
the two soldiers, he let out a groan as if in deep 
pain and sank down on the bottom of the row- 
boat. 

“ He must be wounded, or else he has been 
swimming a long distance,” mumbled one of the 
soldiers. 

“ Well, that will make it so much the easier 
to take him along. Let the pig lie where he is 
until we reach the landing. Then we’ll make 
him march along, or else shoot him.” 

Both soldiers picked up their oars once more 
and endeavored to continue their rowing. One 


THE ENCOUNTER ON THE RIVER 257 

had his feet in the middle of Dave’s back and 
took savage delight in punching his heels into the 
prisoner. 

“ I’d like to have all the Americans under me 
just like this one,” he mumbled to his companion. 

“ We’ll have them all under our feet some day,” 
answered the other. “ They will be sorry they ever 
went to war against the Vaterlandf* and then the 
soldier began his singing again, in which his com- 
panion presently joined. 

Dave noted with satisfaction that the guns of 
both of the soldiers lay forward, on the bottom 
of the rowboat. While the craft was passing 
along in the darkness he put forth one hand cau- 
tiously and pulled first one gun and then the other 
toward him. He did not dare to raise either of 
the weapons; but he placed them in such a posi- 
tion that neither of the Germans could get at 
them very readily. 

A full mile had been covered on the journey 
down the river, and one soldier was looking ahead 
as if to see at what point he might make a land- 
ing, when Dave resolved to act. He felt some- 
what recovered, and, gathering himself for the 
effort, he suddenly leaped up and caught one of 
the soldiers by the arm. 

“Stop! What does this mean?” spluttered 
the fellow, but before he could utter another 
word Dave had him half overboard. Then he 


258 DAVE PORTER’S WAR HONORS 

gave the soldier a shove which sent him headlong 
into the water. 

The encounter had been a brief one, but short 
as it was it had given the second soldier a chance 
to leap up and at the young lieutenant. He came 
at our hero very much like a big bear, fastening 
himself on Dave’s back with a grab at his throat 
which was as painful as it was dangerous. 

But all the young lieutenant’s fighting blood 
was now aroused, and, standing straight up, he 
suddenly bent low, sending the German soldier 
flying into the air and over his head. 

The fellow gave a yell of rage and alarm, but 
he did not lose his grip; and a moment later both 
he and Dave splashed overboard into the swiftly 
flowing river I 


CHAPTER XXVI 


DEEP IN THE WOODS 

Evidently the German soldier who had gone 
overboard with Dave knew little or nothing about 
swimming, for the minute he touched the water 
he seemed to grow frantic, clutching our hero 
around the neck in a deathlike grip. 

‘‘ Save me ! Save me ! Don’t let me drown ! ” 
he spluttered hoarsely, in German, as soon as 
both of them came to the surface again. 

The young lieutenant did not reply to this. He 
was in the grip of a deadly enemy, and he did 
not purpose to lose his life if he could help it. 
Gathering what strength remained to him, he 
twisted around and gave the German a stinging 
blow in the chin. 

Ordinarily such a blow would have caused the 
other to fall back; but now fear clutched at the 
German’s heart, and though his head went back 
with a jerk, he still retained his hold upon our 
hero. Evidently he did not intend to drown un- 
less Dave did likewise. 

By this time the rowboat had drifted down the 
stream away from the pair. But one of the oars 
259 


26 o DAVE PORTER’S WAR HONORS 


was close at hand and Dave seized hold of this. 
From a distance came a yell for help, evidently 
from the first soldier who had gone overboard. 
These cries gradually became fainter and fainter, 
and then ceased altogether. 

With the oar in his hand, the young lieutenant 
wondered what he had best do next. He must 
act quickly, for already both he and the German 
soldier were on the point of going down a second 
time. 

Perhaps it was a cruel thing to do, but this was 
war, and Dave did not purpose to lose his life 
if he could possibly avoid it. He brought the 
broad point of the oar around, and, catching the 
blade with both hands, made a jab with all of his 
strength for the German’s throat. 

The thrust went true, the sharp end of the oar 
catching the man full in the neck. The force of 
the blow made him gasp, and for the instant his 
hold upon Dave was relaxed. Our hero made 
another lunge with the oar, catching the fellow 
in the breast and sending him several yards away. 
Then the German suddenly disappeared from view 
beneath the surface of the river; and that was the 
last the young lieutenant saw of him. 

Dave swam a distance of twenty odd feet, and 
then looked back to see if he was being pursued. 
But when neither of the German soldiers showed 
himself, he continued his swimming, heading for 


DEEP IN THE WOODS 


261 


the distant shore and also for the rowboat whicA 
was drifting on ahead of him. It did not take 
him long to reach the boat, and, almost exhausted, 
he pulled himself aboard and sank down on the 
middle seat. 

Less than ten minutes had elapsed since Dave 
had made his attack on the enemy, yet to him It 
seemed as if it was an age. He had been close 
to death, and he thanked Providence for his escape. 

“ More than likely both of those chaps are 
drowned,” he told himself. “ Even if they could 
swim, they were both too befuddled by liquor to 
take care of themselves.” 

The rowboat was without oars, so he had to 
let the craft take Its own course to a large degree. 
He did find a small board In the bottom of the 
boat, and with this as a paddle succeeded in head- 
ing more toward the shore than before. 

The craft had passed a point where there were 
a number of small lights as If belonging to some 
village or camp, and was now drifting along a 
portion of the stream where all was dark. 

“ I’ve got to make a landing sooner or later,” 
he reasoned; “ and I might as well turn in here 
as anywhere. If I see anything to alarm me, I 
can slip overboard and swim for It.” 

In utter silence he turned the boat toward the 
shore, and presently the current brought It close 
alongside a number of bushes which overhung the 


262 DAVE PORTER’S WAR HONORS 

l iver bank. Dave caught hold of these bushes, 
and then by peering around in the semi-darkness 
at last made out a little opening in the bank. Into 
this, by means of the heavy brushwood growing 
on all sides, he pulled the boat until it was almost 
entirely hidden from view. 

By this time the sky had cleared more than 
ever, and all the stars were shining brightly. 
Growing accustomed to the semi-darkness beneath 
the bushes, Dave, after resting for a minute, arose 
cautiously and, standing on the middle seat of the 
rowboat, peered around him. 

All that he could see was the river with the 
bank fringed with brushwood backed up by a 
small forest. In the distance he thought he could 
discern the outlines of a number of stone build- 
ings, but of this he was not certain. Looking out 
on the stream, he could see nothing in the shape 
of a boat. 

“ It doesn’t look to me as if there were any 
guards around here,” he told himself. “ But 
those soldiers must have been bound for some 
camp, so I’ll have to be very careful about show- 
ing myself or making any noise.” 

Having completed the survey, Dave sat down 
on the seat of the boat and gave himself up to 
his meditations. He also wrung some of the 
water from his clothing and took off his shoes 
to empty them. 


DEEP IN THE WOODS 


263 

In the bottom of the boat still lay the two rifles, 
and both were loaded, as he noted with satisfac- 
tion. He resolved, if it became necessary to do 
so, to use the rifles and sell his life as dearly as 
possible. 

A dong-drawn hour went by, and during that 
time Dave made himself as comfortable as pos- 
sible in the rowboat. This, of course, was not 
saying much, for the boat was bare of anything 
in the way of blankets or cushions. He tried 
to sleep, but succeeded only in getting a few fit- 
ful naps, awakening from each with a violent 
start. 

“ I guess this situation is getting on my nerves, 
all right enough,” he murmured. “ My, what 
wouldn’t I give to be back safe and sound with 
our boys ! ” And then he pictured himself safe 
in the quarters at the abandoned mines. He won- 
dered what his chums had thought concerning his 
disappearance. 

Slowly the night wore away, and at the first 
streak of dawn Dave arose on the seat of the row- 
boat and took another look around. 

He had been right about the stone buildings in 
the distance. They were located half way up the 
wooded side of a hill and were evidently some 
ancient castle. 

Up and down the stream he noted several vil- 
lages and towns, but they were all a goodly dis- 


264 DAVE PORTER’S WAR HONORS 

tance away. Near him seemed to be nothing but 
the brushwood and trees with some farm lands 
behind them. 

As soon as it became light enough to do so, 
Dave set to work to push the rowboat still further 
in among the bushes until it was completely hid- 
den. Then he began a closer inspection of the 
craft, having noticed that it contained two small 
lockers, one at the bow and the other under the 
stern seat. In the bow locker was a small amount 
of fishing tackle, and this he examined with care. 

“ If I can’t find anything else to eat, maybe I 
can catch a few fish,” he thought. “ Although 
how I am going to cook them without being no- 
ticed, I don’t know.” 

From the bow locker our hero turned to that 
under the stern seat, and here a pleasant surprise 
awaited him. The locker contained a bundle 
rolled up in a raincoat, such as he had seen the 
German soldiers occasionally wearing. 

“ That raincoat will help me disguise myself,” 
he reasoned with satisfaction. “ And there, too, 
is a hat to go with it. Good enough ! ” 

The bundle was done up in an old newspaper 
tied with a cord; and, undoing this, our hero 
brought forth several links of smoked bologna, a 
loaf of fresh bread, and a covered dish filled 
with potato salad. 

It may be surmised that Dave lost no time in 


DEEP IN THE WOODS 


265 

supplying himself with an early morning meal, 
washing it down with a drink from the river. The 
bologna, although rather highly seasoned, proved 
to be quite palatable, and the bread was much 
better than he had seen since becoming a prisoner. 
The potato salad, too, was very good, even though 
smelling quite strongly of onions. 

“ Not exactly like the Waldorf-Astoria in New 
York or the Parker House in Boston, but it’s 
plenty good enough for a hungry fellow like me, 
and I’m mighty thankful that I’ve found such 
food,” was what he told himself, as he proceeded 
to make himself at home. 

With nothing to do, Dave took his time over 
the meal, and after he had finished he put away 
what was left of the food with great care. 

“ It may have to last me for several days,” he 
thought. 

By the time the young lieutenant had finished 
the repast the sun had come up full and clear and 
it was growing much warmer. This being so, he 
disrobed and hung his clothing on the nearby 
bushes to dry, in the meantime covering himself 
with the raincoat. 

By the middle of the afternoon Dave had be- 
come pretty well rested and his clothing was thor- 
oughly dry. Dressing himself once more, he put 
on the raincoat and the hat he had found and took 
up one of the rifles and also the package of food. 


266 DAVE PORTER’S WAR HONORS 


As he did not wish to burden himself with the 
second firearm, he unloaded this, placing the extra 
shells in his pocket. 

“ Now I’m pretty well fixed,” he thought. 
“ I’ve got on a German raincoat and hat and I’ve 
got a loaded rifle with some extra ammunition, and 
also some food. If I can’t manage to get along 
on that I’m no good.” 

But though the young lieutenant told himself 
these things, he realized that he was in a pre- 
carious position. He was in the enemy’s country, 
and should they discover him they would most 
likely shoot him down on sight. 

‘‘ Having been captured once. I’ll be worse off 
than ever,” he mused. “ I’ve certainly got to 
watch things closely.” 

He had already made up his mind in what direc- 
tion he intended to travel. That was away from 
the river and up to the top of the hill which lay to 
the westward. 

“ The fighting front must be in that direction,” 
he told himself. “ But I guess it is a long way 
off, otherwise I’d hear the booming of the artil- 
lery.” 

With the bundle tied by a fishline over his 
shoulder, and with his gun ready for use, the 
young lieutenant left the vicinity of the rowboat 
and toiled slowly and painfully along through the 


DEEP IN THE WOODS 


267 

brushwood and then among the trees leading to 
the top of the hill. He had thus progressed about 
a hundred yards when he came out on a footpath 
which presently led into an old wood road, evi- 
dently used by the foresters of that vicinity. 

An hour of hard trudging brought Dave at last 
to the top of the hill. As he advanced he heard 
a low rumble in the distance which gradually in- 
creased in intensity. 

‘‘ It’s the artillery, all right enough ! ” he told 
himself with satisfaction. “ I can’t be so very 
far from the fighting front after all. I must have 
come farther on that freight-train than I imag- 
ined.” 

Getting to the very top of the hill, Dave took a 
careful look around, and, having assured himself 
that no one was in that vicinity, he dropped his 
bundle, his rifle, and the raincoat, and commenced 
to climb one of the tall trees growing close by. 

Even when a boy on the farm Dave had been a 
good climber, and he went up branch after branch 
until he found himself at the very top of the tree. 

Here a grand panorama, stretching for many 
miles, was spread out all around him. He could 
see the river he had left gleaming brightly in the 
sunshine, and the smoke from a number of villages 
and towns along its banks. But most of his at- 
tention was fastened on the landscape to the west. 


268 DAVE PORTER’S WAR HONORS 


Here the rumble of the cannons had increased, and 
he could occasionally see a vast cloud of smoke 
arising and rolling southward. 

“ That’s the fighting front, all right enough,” 
he told himself. “ Now the thing of it is to get 
there and then to get through to our side. I won- 
der if I can do it? ” 

Our hero was about to descend from the tree 
and continue his journey when a noise below 
reached his ears. 

“I am quite sure he came this way,” said a 
voice, in German. 

“ Then he can’t be very far off,” was the reply. 

With caution the young lieutenant peered down 
toward the ground and presently made out the 
figures of two. German soldiers. 

“ They must be after somebody, and most likely 
they’re after me,” he reasoned. “ If they spot 
me, what am I to do? ” 

Dave kept quiet for several minutes, and then 
heard voices in the distance. Presently three 
other German soldiers appeared, and then the 
whole five came to a halt directly under the tree 
in which he was hiding. 


CHAPTER XXVII 

WHAT DAVE^S CHUMS DID 

“ Phil, it doesn’t look as If we were ever going 
to hear of Dave again.” 

“Oh, Roger, don’t say anything like that!” 
burst out Phil Lawrence. “ Why, it gives me a 
cold shiver just to think of it.” 

“ And don’t you suppose it makes me feel 
blue? ” said the senator’s son, seriously. “ Why, 
last night I hardly slept a wink just thinking about 
Dave’s disappearance.” 

“ I can’t help but reach the conclusion that he 
was captured by the Germans,” put In Ben, who 
sat near. “ If It had been otherwise we would 
have discovered his body.” 

“ I’m not so sure about that,” answered the 
senator’s son. “ He may have wandered off fur- 
ther than we suppose. And you must remember 
the underbrush Is very thick in spots and conceals 
many openings among the rocks. He may have 
taken a long walk, and then have tried to get back 
by a short cut and lost his way. If that happened, 
it would be an easy thing for him to take some 
dangerous tumble in the dark.” 

269 


270 DAVE PORTER’S WAR HONORS 

“ And then remember, there are always those 
holes leading into the abandoned mines,” came 
from Buster. “ He may have rolled into one of 
those and been unable to find his way out.” 

“ Oh, say, speaking of the holes leading into 
the mines puts me in mind of a story,” began 
Shadow. “ Once there were three boys — ” He 
stopped abruptly and looked contritely into the 
sober faces of his chums. “ Confound it, anyway ! 
what business have I got to try to tell a story at 
such a time as this ? Excuse me, fellows. I — I 
feel just as bad over this as any of you do,” he 
added, lamely. 

“ Speaking about holes,” resumed Roger, after 
an awkward silence, “ Phil and I examined two 
more of them yesterday, but got no trace whatever 
of Dave. That makes about the tenth time we 
have been out on a search.” 

“ And I have been out just as many times,” 
came from Ben ; and Buster and Shadow nodded to 
infer that they had done practically the same thing. 

Several days had passed since our hero’s disap- 
pearance, and the time had dragged heavily with 
his chums. Had it not been for the daily tasks 
assigned to them, they would have been a most 
miserable crowd. Even as it was, whenever they 
were off duty they invariably went on a hunt for 
their missing friend. 

“ Have you written anything to his folks yet. 


WHAT DAVE’S CHUMS DID 


271 


Roger, as you spoke of doing? ” questioned Phil, 
a little later, when Shadow and Buster had left 
the others. 

“ No, I haven’t, Phil,” was the slow reply. “ I 
can’t pluck up the courage to do it. What Dave’s 
folks and the Wadsworths will say when the news 
reaches them is something I hate to think of.” 

“ I’m with you in that,” answered the ship- 
owner’s son. “ I’m sure such bad news will put 
Jessie Wadsworth to bed.” 

“ And Laura, Phil. Don’t forget her. She 
thinks the world and all of her brother.” 

“ It’s too blamed bad, that’s what it is! ” burst 
out Ben. “ Oh, I do wish we could learn what 
has become of him! ” 

The young engineers had been kept fairly busy, 
for the American army and their allies were ad- 
vancing steadily. The Americans had had one or 
two hot contests for the possession of several 
French villages. They had driven the Germans 
from the outskirts, and then from the villages 
themselves, and finally into the woods beyond, 
making an advance of ten or fifteen miles all along 
the front. The casualties had been heavy, and 
as a consequence the field hospitals were crowded 
v/ith the wounded. 

In these battles the engineers had had small 
part, but now they were sent once more to the 
front, to repair the roads and also make safe two 


272 DAVE PORTER’S WAR HONORS 

of the villages, work which was as interesting as it 
was hazardous. 

On the following afternoon Roger, Phil, and a 
number of the others found themselves in a small 
French village where they had been sent to clean 
up some of the wreckage in the main street, so that 
the army could use the thoroughfare for the pass- 
age of the artillery. A battalion of infantry was 
located at this village, and this included the com- 
pany to which Nat Poole and Lieutenant Gebauer 
belonged. 

“ Hello! there is Nat Poole! ” remarked Phil 
presently, when the young soldier in question came 
out of one of the half-wrecked buildings in that 
vicinity. 

“ Let us ask him if he has seen or heard any- 
thing of Dave,” returned Roger. 

“ I don’t think it will do a bit of good,” re- 
marked Ben, who was with the others. 

As soon as he saw his former schoolmates ap- 
proaching, the money lender’s son attempted to 
evade them by passing around the corner of an- 
other ruined building. But all quickened their 
pace and soon caught up with him. 

“ Wait a minute, Nat! ” called Roger. “We 
want to talk to you.” 

The young soldier turned a startled and hag- 
gard face toward them. 


WHAT DAVE’S CHUMS DID 


273 


“ I don’t want to talk to you fellows,” he 
grumbled. “ I want to be left alone.” 

“See here, Nat, what’s got into you?” ques- 
tioned Ben, coming closer. “ You look scared to 
death.” 

“ It isn’t so ! ” cried the other quickly. “ I’m 
not a bit scared! And I don’t want you to talk 
to me that way, Ben Basswood! ” 

“ We were only going to ask you about Dave,” 
went on Roger. “ He is still missing, and I 
wanted to know if you had heard anything at all 
of him.” 

“ Not a thing.” Nat’s face began to show 
greater alarm. “ I want you fellows to leave me 
alone ! You act just as if you thought I had some- 
thing to do with Dave Porter’s disappearance.” 

“ Perhaps you did have something to do with 
it! ” cried Phil, struck by a sudden idea. 

“Has Lieutenant Gebauer seen him?” ques- 
tioned Roger. 

“ I don’t know, but — er — I don’t think so,” 
added Nat falteringly. “ Why don’t you ask him 
and find out for yourself? ” 

“ I will,” said the senator’s son. “ Where is 
he?” 

“ Humph ! don’t ask me.” 

Something in Nat’s manner caused his former 
schoolmates further surprise. Evidently he had 


274 DAVE PORTER’S WAR HONORS 

something on his mind which he did not wish to 
have leak out. 

“Isn’t Lieutenant Gebauer here?” questioned 
Ben. 

“ No.” 

“Why not? Was he shot or captured?” 
queried Phil. 

“ No, he wasn’t shot or captured,” grumbled 
the money lender’s son. “ He has lost his com- 
mission and been sent to the rear, if you must 
know! ” he flared out. 

“You don’t say!” burst out Roger and Phil 
simultaneously. Here was news indeed. 

“What caused it, Nat? He must have done 
something awful to have such a thing happen to 
him,” remarked Ben. 

“ They said it was for cowardice in the face 
of the enemy. I don’t know anything about it, 
because I wasn’t with our company at the time. I 
ate something that didn’t agree with me and was 
on the sick list.” 

“Who made the charge against Gebauer?” 
asked Roger, quickly. 

“ The major of our battalion. He was as mad 
as a hornet. Some one said he threatened to 
shoot the lieutenant. It seems Gebauer gave 
some sort of an order for the men to retreat when 
everybody wanted to advance. I guess he was ter- 
ribly scared. Anyway, he started to run,, and that 


WHAT DAVE’S CHUMS DID 


275 


threw all the men into confusion until the top ser- 
geant came along and rallied our boys and sent 
them ahead again. It was a fierce mix-up, and 
Gebauer got it not only from the major, but also 
from the captain and some of the other officers 
of the regiment. Then they took him to head- 
quarters, and the next thing I knew he had been 
sent to the rear.” 

“ Well, that sure is a come-down for Gebauer,” 
murmured Phil. “ Gee ! I wouldn’t have that 
happen to me for the world.” 

“ He’ll be disgraced for the rest of his life,” 
added Ben. 

“ I guess the best thing you can do, Nat, is to 
steer clear of such cattle,” said the senator’s son. 
‘‘ No one will ever want to forgive a fellow who 
was a coward in the face of the enemy.” 

“ Oh, I’m done with Gebauer; so you don’t have 
to preach to me about that,” growled the money 
lender’s son sourly. “ I found out what he was 
quite some time ago.” And then, after a few 
more words, Nat Poole marched away from the 
others, looking anything but happy. 

“ He acts as if he had something on his mind,” 
was the way Ben expressed himself. 

“ Probably he is very much upset over the way 
Gebauer acted,” returned Phil. “ The pair were 
quite chummy, if you’ll remember.” 

‘‘ There was something about that Gebauer I 


276 DAVE PORTER’S WAR HONORS 

never liked,” said Roger slowly. “ He always 
made me think of a snake in the grass. I’ve got 
half a notion that he was a pro-German. Maybe 
his cowardice was all put on. He may have just 
been acting that way trying to help the enemy to 
a victory.” 

“ Gosh ! If that’s so, he ought to be exposed 1 ” 
cried Ben. 

“ Probably he has been exposed. They 
wouldn’t send him to the rear for nothing.” 

The next day the battle was on again in all its 
fury. The Americans advanced through one of 
the villages, and then up a long hillside leading 
to some new positions which the Germans had 
fortified. There was much for both the infantry 
and the artillery to do, and the bombardment by 
the small and big guns kept up night and day, until 
the ground fairly trembled with the concussions. 

There was much for the engineers to do, and 
Roger and his chums worked for sixteen hours, 
scarcely stopping to eat. They had a road to cut 
through one of the forests, and had also to build 
several small bridges. 

It was highly dangerous work, and more than 
once a bomb exploded close to them, sending the 
dirt and rocks flying in every direction. Once 
Shadow went down, struck in the head, and some 
of the others had to carry him to the rear. He 


WHAT DAVE’S CHUMS DID 


277 


was not dangerously wounded, however, for which 
he was thankful. 

In the midst of the work by the engineers, some 
of the infantry advanced once more. This em- 
braced the company to which Nat Poole belonged, 
and a little later came another bombardment by 
the Germans which sent the trees and brushwood 
flying in all directions, so that that section of the 
forest became little less than an inferno. 

“ Gee, but this is getting hot! ” ejaculated Phil, 
after a bomb had exploded close in front of them, 
sending sticks of wood, rocks, and a shower of dirt 
flying in all directions. 

The engineers were ordered to move to the 
right, making their way as best they could through 
a tangle of brushwood. Roger and Phil were 
side by side when they heard a sudden yell for 
help. 

“That sounds like Nat Poole’s voice!” ex- 
claimed Roger, and started on a run for the spot 
whence the cry proceeded. 

Phil followed his chum, and Ben came close be- 
hind the pair. Soon all three reached a point 
where a shell had cut off two trees about five feet 
up from the ground. The trunks of the tree had 
come down with a tremendous crash one on top of 
the other, and both were lying in a tangle of brush- 
wood. 


278 DAVE PORTER’S WAR HONORS 

“ Help, help ! ” was the cry, and now the chums 
felt certain it came from the money lender’s son. 

Soon they reached the vicinity of the fallen trees. 
Here the jumble of tree limbs and brushwood was 
so thick they could scarcely see into it. From the 
midst continued to come the cry for help. 

“ Is that you, Nat? ” called out Roger. 

“Yes, yes! Save me! Save me!” screamed 
the money lender’s son. “ These trees are chok- 
ing the life out of me ! ” 

Fortunately, Roger and Ben were armed with 
axes, while Phil carried a crowbar. Worming 
their way in among the tangle of brushwood and 
branches, they presently came to the place where 
Nat lay. He was flat on his back with the weight 
of one of the trees resting heavily upon his 
stomach. 

“ We’ll have to chop him loose,” said Phil, 
after a hasty survey of the situation. They saw 
that it would be practically impossible for them to 
raise up that mass of fallen timber. 

With the roar of battle raging all around them, 
the young engineers set to work with the axes, and 
in less than ten minutes had chopped away two of 
the tree limbs. Then another was pried to one 
side by Ben and Phil, and while this was done 
Roger dragged the money lender’s son to a safe 
position. 

Nat was so weak he could scarcely stand, and 


WHAT DAVE’S CHUMS DID 


279 


Roger and Ben supported him as they led the way 
out of the tangle. Then they fell in with several 
soldiers belonging to Nat’s company. 

“ You had better take charge of this fellow,” 
said Roger to one of the men. “ I don’t know 
how badly he has been hurt. A couple of trees 
came down on top of him.” 

“ My stomach is smashed! ” groaned Nat dole- 
fully. “ I know I’ll never be able to walk straight 
again 1 I am done for 1 ” And then, as a sudden 
twinge of pain seized him, he went on with a sob : 
“ I knew it! I knew I would have to suffer! I 
had no right to do what I did ! Oh, what shall I 
do? What shall I do?” And then, suddenly 
throwing up both hands, Nat Poole fell in a dead 
faint. 


CHAPTER XXVIII 


THE GERMAN HEADQUARTERS 

Scarcely daring to breathe, Dave kept him- 
self near the top of the tree, doing what he could 
to hide from the observation of the five German 
soldiers below. He knew that they most likely 
had discovered the raincoat, the package of food, 
and the rifle he had left at the foot of the tree; 
and that being so, they would take it for granted 
that he could not be far away. 

He heard the five soldiers talking earnestly, and 
also heard them tear open the package of food 
he had been carrying. 

“ Ha ! he lives pretty high,” was the comment 
of one of the soldiers. “ Smoked bologna and 
potato salad! Very good! I think, comrades, 
we can dispose of this in short order.” 

“ We certainly can,” returned another soldier, 
and the whole five, who were evidently hungry, 
lost no time in disposing of what remained of the 
food. 

Making no noise, Dave succeeded in lowering 
himself to one of the larger limbs of the tree. 
Then, as the soldiers continued to talk and eat, 
280 


THE GERMAN HEADQUARTERS 281 

having thrown themselves on the ground for that 
purpose, he worked his way out on the limb until 
he was almost to the end. 

Below him he could make out a mass of brush- 
wood and also several rocks. These partly 
screened the spot where he might land from the 
trunk of the tree. But the distance to the ground 
was all of fifteen feet, and our hero was by no 
means sure that he could make the drop In safety. 
If he sprained an ankle or injured his foot, it 
would be all up with him. 

“ But I’ve got to take some chances,” he mur- 
mured to himself. “ I don’t intend to go back to 
one of their prison pens. Besides, having escaped 
once. It may be that they would shoot me on sight.” 

He gave himself a moment more of thought, 
and then, gritting his teeth, suddenly swung out 
to the end of the limb and let his body drop. 

As he came swiftly down he heard a yell of sur- 
prise from one of the soldiers. Then all leaped 
up, grabbing their weapons as they did so. 

Fortunately for our hero, he came down in 
some of the brushwood, and this broke his fall to 
such an extent that he was not injured save for a 
few scratches. Having landed, he leaped out of 
the bushes and then sped through the woods at the 
best rate of speed he could command. 

Crack! Crack! went one rifle after another, and 
the bullets whistled uncomfortably close to him. 


282 DAVE PORTER’S WAR HONORS 

However, he was not struck, and soon the 
brushwood and the trees screened him so com- 
pletely that further shooting was out of the ques- 
tion. 

But Dave knew the German soldiers must be 
after him, and he kept on running until he was 
well-nigh exhausted. He was going downhill at 
the time, and he had to be careful that he did not 
pitch headlong over some of the rough rocks which 
cropped out here and there on the hillside. 

At the foot of the hill ran a small brook, and 
here he paused long enough to get a drink. Then 
he walked along through the brook for quite a 
distance, doing this that he might hide any trail 
that he had left behind. He had heard that the 
enemy occasionally used hounds in getting on the 
track of escaped prisoners. 

Beyond the hill and the brook was a wide valley 
dotted with numerous farms. Here the country 
was more or less open, and he wondered how he 
'could make another advance. He moved along 
the brook, and presently came to an old stone 
bridge, over which ran a fairly good highway. 

One side of the bridge was hidden in a mass of 
bushes, and here the young lieutenant found a 
fairly good hiding-place. From this he did not 
dare to venture until darkness had fallen, in the 
meantime keeping his eyes and ears wide open for 
the possible appearance of the soldiers who had 


THE GERMAN HEADQUARTERS 283 

discovered him. But they did not come that way, 
and he at last concluded that he must have thrown 
them off the trail. 

It was probably nine o’clock in the evening when 
Dave resolved to resume his journey westward. 
He crawled out on the roadway just as a farmer 
came along driving a box-wagon loaded with 
barrels. 

“ I wonder if I dare chance a ride? ” he said 
to himself; and then, as the back of the wagon 
passed him, he made a quick leap, landing between 
several barrels. He wormed his way in between 
the barrels, finally coming to a sitting position well 
hidden from the farmer, who sat on the front seat 
driving. 

Two hours passed, and in that time the wagon 
covered a distance of at least twelve miles. The 
valley with its farms was left behind, and they 
were beginning to ascend a slight rise of ground. 
Here there was another patch of woods. 

During the ride Dave discovered that one of 
the barrels in the wagon contained apples and an- 
other pears, and he appropriated as much of this 
fruit as he wished to eat. 

“ Get up there, you ! ” cried the farmer in Ger- 
man to his team. “ We’ll soon be there now, and 
I’ll be glad of it. This has been a long drive.” 

Dave could see that they were approaching 
some sort of an estate^ and from the words of the 


284 DAVE PORTER’S WAR HONORS 

farmer concluded that a stop was to be made there. 
Consequently, he thought it about time for him to 
leave the wagon, and lost no time in doing so. 

This move was a fortunate one for our hero, 
because less than two minutes later the wagon 
turned in at a massive stone gateway where several 
men were on guard. Seeing the lights flashing in 
the darkness and the figures of some men moving 
along, Dave lost no time in dropping out of sight 
into the woods on the opposite side of the road. 

“ Well, I’m about twelve miles nearer the fight- 
ing front, an)rway,” he reasoned. “ I suppose 
from now on I’ve got to be doubly careful as to 
how I advance.” 

With the coming of nightfall the rumble of 
battle had died away. But from the sounds of 
the last shots fired, he had reached the conclusion 
that the fighting front could not be any great dis- 
tance off. 

As the young lieutenant hid in the woods oppo- 
site the gateway he heard a sound on the road 
from the westward, and presently several Ger- 
man officers on horseback came riding along. 
They were talking earnestly, and turned into the 
same gate which the farmer had used. 

“ Hello ! maybe that’s some sort of head- 
quarters,” Dave murmured to himself. “ If it is, 
I had better watch out for myself. They must 
have guards all around here.” 


THE GERMAN HEADQUARTERS 285 

It would have been the part of prudence for our 
hero to have placed as much distance as possible 
between himself and such a place. But the young 
lieutenant had not only the bravery of the average 
American soldier, but he had likewise his share 
of curiosity, and now that he was so close to these 
German officers he wondered how they were carry- 
ing on the conduct of the war. 

“ I’d like to spy on them a little and see just 
how they do it,” he told himself. “ Gracious ! 
what a story it will be to tell if ever I get back! ” 

His curiosity finally got the better of him, and, 
watching his opportunity, he slipped across the 
road again and then climbed the stone fence of 
the estate. He knew he was taking a tremendous 
chance, for there might not only be soldiers in that 
vicinity, but the owner of the place might have a 
number of watch-dogs. 

Looking ahead through the trees and brush- 
wood, the young lieutenant presently made out a 
large stone-pile, evidently an ancient German 
castle. All was dark from the outside save the 
light which peered from around the cracks of dark 
curtains pulled down over the windows. But as 
the night was warm, most of the windows were 
open and the air blowing would occasionally shift 
a curtain so that a look inside could be obtained. 

There seemed to be no soldiers on that side of 
the building, so our hero had little difficulty in 


286 DAVE PORTER^S WAR HONORS 


making his way forward until he was within a 
short distance of the castle. He could hear loud 
and earnest talking coming from probably six or 
eight officers. They were gathered in a room not 
far from where he was standing, and when the 
wind raised the curtain of one of the windows for 
a few seconds, Dave saw that they were seated 
around a large table containing a number of maps 
and documents. 

“ And you think the Crown Prince will be here 
to-night? ” questioned one of the officers presently. 

“ That’s what he said. Captain Baska,” was the 
reply. 

“ I doubt if he will agree to this plan,” came 
from another officer. “ Probably he will have a 
plan of his own,” he added, rather sourly. 

The discussion continued, the officers in the 
meantime consulting the maps and some of the 
documents which lay before them. All were 
smoking and to let in some fresh air, one of the 
curtains of a window was raised several inches. 

Presently there was a commotion at the front 
of the castle, and a moment later an under officer 
came into the room somewhat out of breath. 

“ The Crown Prince ! ” he announced. 

Instantly all of the officers in the room arose 
to their feet and left the apartment, evidently in- 
tending to greet the German Crown Prince at the 
entrance to the castle. 


THE GERMAN HEADQUARTERS 287 

Peering under the curtain into the room, Dave 
saw that the apartment was empty. The table 
where the officers had sat was less than two feet 
away, and on it still rested the maps and the docu- 
ments they had been consulting. 

It was an opportunity too good to be lost. 
Though he was running a tremendous risk, Dave 
raised the curtain to the window a trifle higher, 
threw his body over the window sill, and stretched 
out his hands toward the table. With a quick 
move he gathered in the maps and the documents, 
rolled them into a bundle, and pulled them toward 
him. Then he dropped from the window again, 
pulled down the curtain, and ran with all possible 
speed toward the rear of the castle. 

“ Now if they catch me they’ll kill me sure,” he 
thought. “ But they are not going to catch me if 
I can possibly help it.” 

He rolled the maps and the documents still 
tighter, and thrust them into an inside pocket, but- 
toning his coat tightly over them. Then he con- 
tinued on his way until he reached the stone fence, 
over which he climbed with little difficulty. 

Fortunately for the young lieutenant, the night 
was clear, so that when his eyes became accus- 
tomed to the semi-darkness he managed to progress 
fairly well. He stumbled on and on until he 
reached the roadway once more, and then headed 
westward as before. He listened for an alarm 


288 DAVE PORTER’S WAR HONORS 


from the castle, but strange to say it did not come. 

“ I guess they haven’t gone back to that room 
yet,” he thought. “ Well, I hope they don’t go 
back until I’m a long distance away.” 

He kept to the highway for about two miles 
further, and then, reaching the outskirts of a small 
village, turned slightly to the northward. Here 
there was another patch of woods, and into this 
he plunged, finally reaching a place where he 
thought it would be safe to sit down and make 
up his mind what to do next. 

Dave had rested a quarter of an hour when 
suddenly he heard a noise about a hundred yards 
further within the wood. Then, of a sudden, 
came a roar which almost deafened him. This 
roar was followed by others, until the very ground 
under him seemed to tremble. 

He leaped to his feet, and with good reason. 
With that opening roar came a discovery which 
interested him tremendously. He had reached 
the vicinity of the fighting front without knowing 
It. Directly In front of him was one of the Ger- 
man batteries, and it was now in full action. 



With a quick move he gathered in the maps and documents. 

Page 287. 




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CHAPTER XXIX 


THE LAST FIGHT 

They must be getting ready for an advance, 
or else they are trying to hold back the advance of 
our own men.” Such was the thought of the 
young lieutenant as the German battery continued 
to pound away with unusual vigor. 

The bombing soon covered a distance of many 
miles, showing that a move of some sort was either 
taking place or was contemplated. 

“ Maybe if there is a real battle it will give me a 
chance to get through the lines,” Dave reasoned, 
and his heart gave a bound of hope. If he could 
only get through quickly and reach headquarters, 
perhaps the maps and documents he had con- 
fiscated from the enemy might prove of great 
value to the Americans. 

Climbing a tree, our hero surveyed the situa- 
tion as well as the semi-darkness permitted. He 
could see numerous flashes of fire from the great 
German guns along a line which stretched out as 
far as his eye could reach. 

The young lieutenant knew he would be run- 
ning a tremendous risk to attempt to pass through 
289 


290 DAVE PORTER’S WAR HONORS 

that line, and yet he felt he must undertake to do 
this if he was to escape at all. He descended 
from the tree, and with great caution moved 
slowly through the brushwood, making sure of 
every step that was in front of him. Once or 
twice he thought he was coming upon a German 
guard, but these alarms proved false, and he con- 
tinued on his way with as great caution as before. 

As he advanced he presently made out the forms 
of a small body of men moving across a corner of 
a field in the direction of a patch of timber much 
mutilated by artillery fire. Even at that distance 
and in such a dim light, he felt sure that the mov- 
ing men were Germans. 

“ It’s a night raid of some sort,” he reasoned. 
“ Maybe they are going over to see if they can’t 
get hold of some Americans and make them pris- 
oners. Probably they want some information and 
that is the only way they can get it.” 

Hardly knowing why he was doing it, Dave fol- 
lowed the Germans until he saw them disappear 
among the trees of the wood. Then he came to a 
hole, and just as some star shells flamed forth, 
lighting up the scene, he dropped down into this. 

For several seconds the light in the hole was 
quite distinct, and during that time our hero made 
a discovery that shocked him. A German lay in 
the hole, holding his rifle in his hands as if ready 
to use the weapon instantly. 


THE LAST FIGHT 


291 


With a quick leap Dave sprang for this man, 
taking him completely by surprise. The fellow 
struggled to rise, but the young lieutenant held 
him down, and at the same time made a quick 
grab for the gun, tearing it from the German’s 
grasp. 

Kamerad! Kamerad! yelled the German, 
when Dave turned the weapon around and pointed 
it at his head. Kamerad! he repeated, and 
at the same time both of his hands went high into 
the air. 

“Quiet!” ordered Dave In German, and the 
fellow understood and kept still. Then our hero 
made the man turn around In the hole and, watch- 
ing him carefully, deprived the fellow of his 
ammunition. 

With the gun and the bayonet ready for use, 
our hero felt somewhat relieved. If attacked, he 
would now have a chance to defend himself. 

With the dying out of the star shells the dark- 
ness again settled over that vicinity. Dave 
ordered the man to move out of the shell hole, and 
then told him to march on, keeping his hands up 
as before. The fellow walked with a slight limp, 
showing that he had either been wounded or had 
hurt himself. 

Knowing that the body of Germans he had seen 
must still be In the wood, Dave gave that vicinity 
a wide berth, moving somewhat to the southward. 


292 DAVE PORTER’S WAR HONORS 

This presently brought him to another small strip 
of wood. 

And then the unexpected happened. 

As if by magic fully a dozen Germans leaped 
up from where they had been concealed. All 
pointed their guns at him, but not a shot was fired, 
for, as he had surmised, several detachments were 
out in an endeavor to obtain prisoners from whom 
they expected to elicit much-needed information. 

The young lieutenant’s fighting blood was up. 
He had no desire to go back to a German prison, 
and the instant the enemy showed themselves, he 
began to blaze away with his rifle, running at top 
speed for the shelter of the wood as he did so. 
He had the satisfaction of seeing one of the Ger- 
mans go down, and a second quickly followed. 
Then came the discharge of several of the enemy’s 
firearms, and Dave felt a hot flash of pain through 
his right side. 

“ I’m shot I They’ve got me ! ” was the thought 
that flashed through his mind, and yet he did not 
stop, but continued to run and to use his gun. 
After him, but at a distance, came the Germans, 
determined to make him a prisoner or shoot him 
down. 

“ Stop ! ” came the sudden cry from in front of 
our hero, and he saw several soldiers rise up from 
the brushwood, all leveling their rifles at him. 
“Hands up!” 


THE LAST FIGHT 


293 


“Are you Americans?” questioned Dave 
quickly, for the darkness was too intense for him 
to distinguish what they were. 

“ You bet ! ” was the laconic response. “ Who 
are you? ” 

Dave told them, advancing as he did so. And 
then he added quickly: “There are about a 
dozen or fifteen German soldiers after me — some 
kind of raiding party.” 

“ That’s the party we are after,” was the quick 
reply, from a captain who was commanding the 
Americans. “ Boys, are you ready to round them 
up?” 

“ We sure are I ” was the ready response. 

“ Can you show us just where those fellows 
are?” questioned the captain of Dave. 

“I can! They were after me just a minute 
ago. They must be lying low in yonder brush- 
wood. If you had a few hand-grenades you could 
get every one of them.” 

“ We’d rather surround them and take them as 
prisoners,” returned the captain. “ I think I’ve 
got just the men here to do it.” 

He had about thirty-five men with him, all of 
whom had volunteered for the night expedition. 
He quickly explained what was wanted, and then 
the men spread out, one party going to the right 
and the other to the left of where the Germans 
had last been seen. 


294 DAVE PORTER’S WAR HONORS 

“ Can’t I go along, Captain? ” questioned Dave 
eagerly. “ I had one prisoner a few minutes ago, 
but those fellows stole him away from me.” 

“ Of course you can go if you want to, Lieu- 
tenant,” was the captain’s reply. “ I reckon you 
are spoiling for a fight just as we are,” he con- 
tinued. He was a Southern military man and 
well-known for his daring. 

The Americans advanced quickly but with 
caution, and before they knew it the Germans 
found themselves cut off in the rear. They put up 
a short and stiff fight, in which one of their men 
was killed and three were wounded, and then they 
surrendered. 

In this contest Dave distinguished himself by 
bringing down one of the enemy and also in re- 
capturing the German who had a little while be- 
fore gotten away from him. 

All of the prisoners were rounded up, disarmed, 
and made to march toward the American lines. 
While this was being done Dave staggered over to 
the side of the American captain. 

“ I’ve been wounded in the side. Captain,” he 
said. “ I don’t believe it’s very serious, but at 
the same time I am feeling rather weak. I have 
important maps and documents with me which I 
stole from the German headquarters. I wish to 
get these to our headquarters just as quickly as 
possible. Will you help me to do it? ” 


THE LAST FIGHT 


295 


“ I certainly will, Lieutenant,’’ was the ready 
response. “ Do you want me to send some of the 
men to headquarters with the documents or do you 
want to go yourself? If you would rather go 
yourself. I’ll send a couple of men to assist you.” 

“ I think I’d rather go myself,” answered Dave, 
with a faint grin. “ But I’ll have to fix up my 
wound first.” 

With a first-aid kit the slight wound in Dave’s 
side was taken care of temporarily, and then, in 
company with two of the soldiers, the young lieu- 
tenant tramped off in the direction of the Amer- 
ican field headquarters. He had previously 
learned that the engineering unit to which he was 
attached was located several miles away. 

Fortunately the distance to headquarters was 
not great, and the young lieutenant and those with 
him arrived there at midnight. Dave was about 
all in, yet he managed to make his report and de- 
liver the maps and documents he had taken from 
the German headquarters. 

“ This is certainly fine work. Lieutenant Por- 
ter,” said one of the commanding officers, who 
was in charge. “ Very fine work indeed ! These 
maps and documents may prove of great impor- 
tance.” 

“ I hope so, sir. That is why I took them,” 
answered the young lieutenant in an unsteady voice. 
Then, of a sudden, all seemed to grow black be- 


296 DAVE PORTER’S WAR HONORS 

fore his eyes and he staggered and would have 
fallen had not some of those around supported 
him. 

“ This strain has been too much for you, Lieu- 
tenant,” said another of the officers kindly. “ I 
think we had better turn you over to one of our 
doctors immediately.” And this was done, and 
Dave was given the best of medical attention. 
Then he was fed and put to bed, and in a short 
while was in sound slumber. This was in one of 
the dugouts, where he was safe from the bombard- 
ment, which still continued. 

Early on the following morning another ad- 
vance was made by the Americans. This was due 
in part to the maps and documents which Dave 
had brought in and which proved the v/eakness 
of the Germans at one point on the line. This 
point was carried a few hours later by our troops; 
and then followed a general advance which con- 
tinued almost uninterruptedly for three days. 

“ We’ve got ’em on the run ! ” was the cry of the 
Americans, and it proved true. The Germans 
were practically beaten, although they were still 
holding out as well as they possibly could, hoping 
in the meantime that their rulers might make some 
satisfactory terms with those who opposed them. 

It was a rather pale and weak Lieutenant Porter 
who entered the camp of the engineers just as the 
fierce three days’ fighting had come to an end. 


THE LAST FIGHT 


297 


He had already sent In word over a field telephone 
that he was alive and was coming, so that his 
chums were not as much surprised as they would 
otherwise have been. Yet they hailed his advent 
with great joy. 

“ It’s the best news yet, Dave! ” cried Roger, 
grabbing him around the waist. “ The very best 
yet I ” 

“ You can’t imagine how bad we felt when we 
thought the Germans had killed you,” put in Phil. 

“ We went on all sorts of hunts for you,” added 
Ben. “ But, of course, we didn’t find you, and we 
couldn’t Imagine what had become of you.” 

“ I suppose you don’t know yet how I happened 
to be missing,” said our hero. “ It’s a long 
story, but I’ll tell it to you just as soon as I’ve 
rested.” 

“We know something of the truth,” answered 
Roger, and a stern look crossed his face. “ We 
know who assaulted you and rolled you down Into 
the abandoned mine.” 

“You do!” exclaimed Dave, in surprise. 
“ That’s more than I know 1 Who did it? ” 

“ Max Gebauer and Nat Poole.” 


CHAPTER XXX 

CAPTAIN DAVID PORTER — CONCLUSION 

“ Gebauer and Poole! You don’t mean it! ” 
exclaimed the young lieutenant. 

“ But I do mean it,” answered the senator’s son. 
“ They are the ones who attacked you and rolled 
you down one of the shafts of the mines. It’s a 
great wonder you weren’t killed.” 

“ But how did you learn of this, Roger? ” 

' “ It’s a pretty long story, Dave ; and as you look 

rather weak, perhaps you had better sit down 
while I tell it.” 

Roger and the others led the way to where our 
hero could be made comfortable, and there, while 
he was treated to some refreshments, they gave 
him many of the particulars of what had occurred 
during his absence. 

“ I guess I had better tell you about Max Ge- 
bauer first,” said the senator’s son. “ During one 
of the advances of our army, he acted in a most 
disgraceful manner, urging a part of his company 
to retreat. They saw no good reason for doing 
it, and a sergeant led them in the advance. For 
298 


CAPTAIN DAVID PORTER 


299 

this Gebauer was accused of cowardice in the face 
of the enemy.” 

“ Phew ! that’s rather a serious charge.” 

“But that isn’t the worst of it!” broke in 
Phil. “ Do you remember the German prisoner 
who saw Gebauer and talked to him — the fellow 
you afterwards interviewed? ” 

“ I do.” 

“ Well, it seems Gebauer visited that fellow 
while he was at a prisoners’ camp, and the two got 
into a regular row. This, of course, was before 
Gebauer showed his so-called cowardice. 

“ Well, the secret service men made an investi- 
gation and discovered that Gebauer and this 
prisoner had once been in a questionable business 
deal in Germany. Gebauer was wanted there for 
swindling several people, and this chap had been 
bought off to keep silent, but had never received 
a large part of the money promised to him by Ge- 
bauer. Then the American authorities dipped 
deeper into the matter, and I understand they have 
now come to the conclusion that Gebauer’s coward- 
ice was largely put on, and that he was in a plan 
with some German sympathizers to play into the 
enemy’s hands. As a consequence Lieutenant 
Max Gebauer, pro-German, is now languishing in 
a military prison.” 

“ And you can bet he isn’t a lieutenant any 
more I ” declared Ben. 


300 DAVE PORTER’S WAR HONORS 

“ Well, that explains some things, but it doesn’t 
explain how you learned that he and Nat Poole 
attacked me,” said Dave. “ Of course, I imag- 
ined it might be them, but I wasn’t sure. I really 
didn’t think they would go so far.” 

“ Nat says he was dragged into it. But, of 
course, that may be all talk. Nat always did like 
to squirm out of a tight place,” went on Roger. 

He then related how the money lender’s son 
had been in the great fight and almost lost his life. 
His injuries had necessitated his being sent to the 
hospital, and there, while in a fever, he had con- 
tinually spoken about Dave and of the attack on 
the young lieutenant. 

“ He went on so awfully that the nurse notified 
one of the doctors, and he in turn called in an army 
officer. In his rational moments Nat was closely 
questioned, and in the end he broke down and 
made a complete confession. 

“ He said that he wanted to get square with 
you for the way he had been treated, but he had 
not imagined that Gebauer would go so far. He 
had struck you once, but it was only a light blow, 
and Gebauer had given you the crack that almost 
finished you. And he insisted that it was Gebauer 
who rolled you into the opening of the mine. 
He said he was scared at this, and remonstrated, 
but Gebauer would not listen to him. He even 
made a search for your body, but, of course, did 


CAPTAIN DAVID PORTER 


301 


not find it. He said he was terribly worried, and 
I shouldn’t wonder but what that was so.” 

“ It was a dastardly thing to do I ” declared 
Dave. “ And I am glad that both Gebauer and 
Nat have been caught. I guess each of them will 
get what is coming to him without my making any 
charge against them.” 

“ I don’t know about that, Dave. Perhaps 
you’ll have to see headquarters on that point,” 
answered Roger. 

Of course all the others were glad to see our 
hero. Captain Obray came up to shake hands, 
and so did Frank Andrews and a number of the 
other fighting engineers. All had their stories to 
tell, and all praised Dave greatly for what he had 
accomplished at the German headquarters and 
during the fight when he was trying to get back 
to the American lines. 

“ The authorities won’t forget you for what you 
have done,” said Captain Obray. “ It was simply 
great, and I congratulate you with all my heart.” 
The captain himself had done some wonderful 
work during the last great advance by the Ameri- 
cans, leading a wire-cutting detachment in person 
over a stretch of territory where the bullets and 
shrapnel were flying freely. For this the captain 
received special mention and was, later on, ad- 
vanced to the position of major of engineers. 

Dave, of course, had been reported as missing. 


302 DAVE PORTER’S WAR HONORS 

but now his name was placed back on the roll. 
He lost no time in sending long letters to the folks 
at home, acquainting them with what had taken 
place. 

Awaiting him was a bunch of letters from his 
father and his sister, as well as from Jessie, and 
these, my readers may rest assured, he read with 
great eagerness. 

“ Dear, dear folks at home! ” he murmured to 
himself, after he had read one of Jessie’s letters a 
second time. “ How glad I am that this war is 
almost over. I’ll be mighty glad to get back to 
them once more 1 ” 

And now let us pass over a period of some 
months and then bring this tale of Dave Porter’s 
war activities to an end. 

As our hero had remarked, the war was almost 
over. Deserted by her allies and beaten back on 
the fields of battle, Germany could hold out no 
longer, and so begged for an armistice, which, 
when granted, was so severe in its terms that its 
acceptance was equal to Germany’s complete sur- 
render. She gave up her entire navy, the second 
largest in the world, abandoned all the territory 
she had invaded, and in addition allowed the 
United States and the Allies to occupy a large 
portion of her own country along the Rhine. 

“ It’s a complete collapse,” was the way Dave 


CAPTAIN DAVID PORTER 


303 


expressed himself when this had taken place; and 
the young lieutenant was right. The signing of 
the armistice was followed some time later by the 
opening of the real peace negotiations. 

And while all these things were taking place 
something occurred to make our hero’s heart 
bound with pleasure. He was cited for special 
bravery in obtaining the maps and the documents 
from the German field headquarters, and also for 
his daring in the fight which had followed during 
his endeavor to get back to the American lines. 
For these deeds he was awarded the Distinguished 
Service Cross, and a little later obtained a com- 
mission as a full-fledged captain of engineers. 

“ Dave, I congratulate you I ” cried Roger, 
when he heard this news. 

“ And so do I,” added Phil. “ And you de- 
serve it, Dave, indeed you do ! ” 

- It may be added here that our hero was not the 
only one to obtain promotion. For their heroic 
work in road building and in cutting wire entangle- 
ments under heavy fire, both Roger and Phil were 
given medals and made lieutenants, while Ben be- 
came a sergeant and Shadow and Buster corporals. 

“ And now I’ve got to congratulate you fel- 
lows,” said Dave to Roger, Phil, and the others. 
“ I tell you, old Oak Hall can be proud of this 
bunch!” 

“ That’s what! ” answered Phil. 


304 DAVE PORTER’S WAR HONORS 

“ What a shame Nat Poole had to act the way 
he did,” said Ben. “ He’s the one bad egg in the 
basket.” 

It may be added here that later on, when he 
had recovered from his illness, Nat Poole was dis- 
honorably discharged from the army, and went 
back home a sadder if not a wiser young man. 
Max Gebauer was tried for his various misdeeds, 
and found guilty and sentenced to a long term in 
prison. 

“ I hope Nat has learned his lesson and turns 
over a new leaf after this,” remarked Dave, on 
hearing this news. “ In spite of what he has done 
against me, I bear him no ill will.” Later still he 
heard that Nat had obtained a position as a travel- 
ing salesman for a hardware house and was doing 
his best to make good in that capacity. 

It was a great day for the young engineers when 
they set sail for home. Other engineering units 
had come to France and were at the front, and it 
was felt that those who had gone through so 
many thrilling experiences had done all that could 
be asked of them. 

“ Home, sweet home, for me I ” sang out Phil. 
“ I never did think America could mean so much 
to me I ” 

“ It’s the best of all the places in which to live,” 
answered Dave. “ The very best ! ” 

The home-coming was one long to be remem- 


CAPTAIN DAVID PORTER 


305 


bered. Jessie was at the depot to greet Dave, and 
as soon as he alighted from the train she fairly 
rushed into his arms. 

“ Oh, I hope you never have to go to another 
war, Dave — never I” she cried, as he held her 
close. 

“ Well, I’m hoping, Jessie, that this war will 
prove to be the last one,” he answered. 

Roger, as well as Ben, had come on to Crumville 
with Dave, and the greeting the senator’s son re- 
ceived from Laura was equally cordial, while Ben 
was not forgotten by his folks and the others. 

Dave kissed his sister several times and shook 
hands with his father and his Uncle Dunston, and 
all finally got into the two Wadsworth automobiles 
and drove to the mansion. 

Here Mrs. Wadsworth awaited them, and 
kissed Dave over and over again, and Mr. Wads- 
worth shook hands heartily. And there, too, was 
old Caspar Potts, his eyes full of a kindly sym- 
pathy which could not be mistaken. 

“ My Davy! My Davy! ” he murmured over 
and over again. “ I knew you would do it ! Oh, 
Davy, how proud I am of you ! ” 

“ And just to think — it’s Captain David Porter 
now! ” cried Uncle Dunston. “ Some pumpkins 
for this family, I do declare ! ” 

“ And Lieutenant Morr — don’t forget that! ” 
added Laura, her face beaming. 


3o6 DAVE PORTER’S WAR HONORS. 

“ And it’s Lieutenant Lawrence, too,” said 
Roger. 

“ Why didn’t he come along? ” questioned Mr. 
Porter. 

“ Oh, he had a date with Belle Endicott. She 
and her folks came all the way from Montana to 
New York City to greet him.” 

That night there was a great celebration at the 
Wadsworth mansion, many friends dropping in to 
greet Dave and Roger and congratulate them on 
their promotions. Of course, the young captain 
and the young lieutenant were in their new uni- 
forms and Dave even wore a new wrist watch his 
father gave him to replace the one lost in France, 
and if Jessie and Laura felt very proud of their 
fiances, who can blame them? 

The young engineers had to tell the particulars 
of many of the things which had happened to them 
during the war and had even to show some of the 
scars which had been inflicted. 

“ Oh, Dave, I am so very thankful that you 
didn’t come back minus an arm or a leg! ” cried 
Jessie. “ I’m so very, very thankful ! After this 
whenever I meet a soldier who has been crippled 
I shall treat him with the greatest consideration, 
for now I understand a little of what he must have 
endured.” 

“ Yes, Jessie, they will deserve all the considera- 
tion you can give them,” the young captain an- 


CAPTAIN DAVID PORTER 307 

swered gravely. “ They are the real heroes — 
the fellows who will have to endure long after the 
shouting and the excitement have died out.” 

Some time later there was another gala affair at 
the Wadsworth mansion. This was the occasion 
of a double wedding, when the beautiful Jessie 
Wadsworth became the bride of Captain David 
Porter and the bewitching Laura Porter paired off 
with Lieutenant Roger Morr. 

At this double wedding Lieutenant Philip Law- 
rence was the best man for Dave, and Sergeant 
Benjamin Basswood was the best man for Roger. 
Among the bridesmaids was Belle Endicott, who 
had come all the way from her home in the West 
to be present. 

There was also present a large contingent from 
Oak Hall, including Doctor Clay, the master, and 
Andrew Dale, his head assistant. Of course 
Buster Beggs and Shadow Hamilton were on hand, 
as were also Luke Watson, Sam Day, Bertram 
Vane, and some others of the old crowd.v 

The gifts to the brides were both numerous and 
costly, and both couples received the heartiest con- 
gratulations of all present. 

“ WeVe got to do likewise pretty soon. Belle,” 
whispered Phil to the girl from Montana, and at 
this she blushed and smiled. It was not long after 
that when this couple was also married, a host of 


3o8 DAVE PORTER’S WAR HONORS 

their friends, including Dave and Roger and their 
wives, being present. 

Dave and Jessie had already decided on where 
they were going to live. Mr. Porter had pur- 
chased for them a beautiful house and grounds not 
far from the Wadsworth mansion, and here they 
set up housekeeping and were very happy. 

Laura and Roger went to the old Morr home- 
stead to live, the senator and his wife at that time 
spending practically all their time in Washington. 

Phil and Belle went to reside in Philadelphia, 
where the young shipping master had most of his 
interests. 

For Dave and Jessie and all their friends the 
future looked very rosy; and here we will leave 
them and say good-bye. 


THE END 


DAVE PORTER SERIES 

By EDWARD STRATEMEYER 

12ino Cloth Illustrated $1.25 Net, each 


“Mr. Stratemeyer has seldom introduced a more popular hero 
than Dave Porter. He is a typical boy, manly, brave, always ready 
for a good time if it can be obtained in an honorable way.” — Wzscon- 
sin, Milwaukee^ IVzs, 

“Edward Stratemeyer ’s ‘Dave Porter’ has become exceedingly 
popular .” — Boston Globe, 

“Dave and his friends are nice, manly chaps.” — Times- 
Democrat^ New Orleans, 

DAVE PORTER AT OAK HALL 

Or The School Days of an American Boy 
DAVE PORTER IN THE SOUTH SEAS 

Or The Strange Cruise of the Stormy Petrel 

DAVE PORTER’S RETURN TO SCHOOL 

Or Winning the Medal of Honor 

DAVE PORTER IN THE FAR NORTH 

Or The Pluck of an American Schoolboy 

DAVE PORTER AND HIS CLASSMATES 
Or For the Honor of Oak Hall 
DAVE PORTER AT STAR RANCH 
Or The Cowboy’s Secret 

DAVE PORTER AND HIS RIVALS 

Or The Chums and Foes of Oak Hall 

DAVE PORTER ON CAVE ISLAND 

Or A Schoolboy’s Mysterious Mission 

DAVE PORTER AND THE RUNAWAYS 
Or Last Days at Oak Hall 
DAVE PORTER IN THE GOLD FIELDS 

Or The Search for the Landslide Mine 

DAVE PORTER AT BEAR CAMP 

Or The Wild Man of Mirror Lake 

DAVE PORTER AND HIS DOUBLE 

> Or The Disappearemce of the Basswood Fortune 

DAVE PORTER’S GREAT SEARCH 

Or The Perils of a Young Civil Engineer 

DAVE PORTER UNDER FIRE 

Or A Young Army Engineer in France 

DAVE PORTER’S WAR HONORS 

Or At the Front with the Fighting Engineers 

For sale by all booksellers, or sent postpaid on receipt 
of price by the publishers 

Lothrop, Lee & Shepard Co. Boston 


THE LAKE PORT SERIES 

By EDWARD STRATEMEYER 
12nio Cloth Illustrated $1.25 Net, each 


“The author of the Lakeport Series, Mr. Ed- 
ward Stratemeyer, is well known for his delightful 
boys’ stories .” — Philadelphia Ledger. 

“The Lakeport Series, by Edward Strate- 
meyer, is the lineal descendant of the bettei 
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THE GUN CLUB BOYS OF LAKEPORT 

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Or More Goals Than One 

THE AUTOMOBILE BOYS OF LAKEPORT 

Or A Run for Fun and Fame 

THE AIRCRAFT BOYS OF LAKEPORT 

Or Rivals of the Clouds 



LOTHROP, LEE & SHEPARD CO., Publishers, Boston 






















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